
I 



THE 



MYTHS OF THE NEW WORLD 



A TREATISE 

ON THE 

SYMBOLISM AND MYTHOLOGY 

OF THE 

RED RACE OF AMERICA 



BY 

DANIEL G. BEINTON, A.M., M.D., LL.D., D.Sc. 

.csoe of American Archaeology and Linguistics in the University 
of Pennsylvania 



THIRD EDITION REVISED 



PHILADELPHIA 

DAVID McKAY, Publisher 
1896 



Copyrighted, 1896, by Daniel G. Brixton 



Sherman & Co., Printers 

PHILADELPHIA 



PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. 



I have written this work more for the thoughtful 
general reader than the antiquary. It is a study of 
an obscure portion of the intellectual history of our 
species as exemplified in one of its varieties. 

What are man's earliest ideas of a soul and a God, 
and of his own origin and destiny ? Why do we find 
certain myths, such as of a creation, a flood, an after- 
world; certain symbols, as the bird, the serpent, the 
cross; certain numbers, as the three, the four, the 
seven — intimately associated with these ideas by every 
race? What are the laws of growth of natural reli- 
gions ? How do they acquire such an influence, and 
is this influence for good or evil? Such are some of 
the universally interesting questions which I attempt 
to solve by an analysis of the simple faiths of a savage 
race. 

If in so doing I succeed in investing with a more 
general interest the fruitful theme of American eth- 
nology, my objects will have been accomplished. 

Philadelphia, 1868. 



(v) 



PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION. 



The present edition has been subjected to a thorough 
revision, much of the text having been rewritten and 
about fifty pages of new matter added. 

The most important contributions to native Ameri- 
can mythology which have been published since the 
appearance of the second edition have been consulted 
and will be found mentioned in the notes. 

While this study of the latest writers was necessary, 
in order that the work should represent the present 
condition of the science, the earliest authorities on the 
myths and customs of tribes have been constantly 
preferred, as in later days there has been a certain 
though often unconscious infiltration of European ideas 
and influences into the native mind, 

Many of the opinions concerning the red race and 
its religions advanced as novelties in the former editions 
have now been accepted by most students of these 
subjects ; others are still held as doubtful. It is hoped 
that the additional evidence in their favor presented 
in the present edition will win for them also a favor- 
able consideration from careful writers. 

Philadelphia, 1896. 

(vii) 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTEE I. 

GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS OP THE RED RACE. 

PAGE 

Natural religions the unaided attempts of man to find out God, 
modified by peculiarities of race and nation. — The peculiari- 
ties of the red race : 1. Its languages unfriendly to abstract 
ideas. Native modes of writing by means of pictures, sym- 
bols, objects and phonetic signs. These various methods 
compared in their influence on the intellectual faculties. 2. 
Its isolation, unique in the history of the world. 3. Beyond 
all others, a hunting race. — Principal linguistic subdivi- 
sions : 1. The Eskimos. 2. The Athapascas. 3. The 
Algonkins and Iroquois. 4. The Apalachian tribes. 5. 
The Dakotas. 6. The Aztecs. 7. The Mayas. 8. The 
Muyscas. 9. TheQuichuas. 10. The Caribs and Tupis. 11. 
The Araucanians. — General course of migrations. — Age of 
man in America. — Unity of type in the red race. — Mytho- 
logical parallels. — Bibliographical note . . . .13 

CHAPTEE II. 

THE IDEA OF GOD. 

An intuition common to the species. — Words expressing it in 
American languages derived either from ideas of above in 
space, or of life manifested by breath. -- Examples. — No 
conscious monotheism, and but little idea of immateriality 
discoverable. — Still less any moral dualism of deities, the 
Great Good Spirit and the Great Bad Spirit being alike 
terms and notions of foreign importation . . . .60 

( ix ) 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTEE III. 

THE SACRED NUMBER, ITS ORIGIN AND APPLICATIONS. 

PAGE 

The number Four sacred in all American religions, and the 
key to their symbolism. — Derived from the Cardinal 
Points. — Appears constantly in government, arts, rites, and 
myths. — The Cardinal Points identified with the Four 
Winds, who in myths are the four ancestors of the human 
race, and the four celestial rivers watering the terrestrial 
Paradise. — Associations grouped around each Cardinal 
Point. —From the number four were derived the symbolic 
value of the number Forty, the Sign of the Cross, the Sacred 
Tree, the ceremonial circuit, and other symbols . . 83 



CHAPTEE IV. 

THE SYMBOLS OF THE BIRD AND THE SERPENT. 

Eelations of man to the lower animals. — Two of these, the 
Bird and the Serpent, chosen as symbols beyond all others. 
— The Bird throughout America the symbol of the Clouds 
and Winds. — Meaning of certain species. — The symbolic 
meaning of the Serpent derived from its mode of locomo- 
tion, its poisonous bite, and its power of charming. — 
Usually the symbol of the Lightning and the Waters. — The 
Eattlesnake the symbolic species in America. — The war 
charm. — The god of riches. — Both symbols devoid of moral 
significance 120 

CHAPTEE V. 

THE MYTHS OF WATER, FIRE, AND THE THUNDER-STORM. 

Water the oldest element. — Its use in purification. — Holy 
water. — The Eite of Baptism. — The Water of Life. — Its 
symbols. — The Vase. —The Moon. — The latter the goddess 
of love and agriculture, but also of sickness, night, and pain. 
— Often represented by a dog. — Fire worship under the form 
of Sun worship. — The perpetual fire — The new fire. — Burn- 
ing the dead. —The worship of the passions, and of the 
reciprocal principle of Nature. — Dualism of Deities. — 
American goddesses. — Phallic worship in America. — Syn- 
thesis of the worship of Fire, Water, and the Winds in the 



CONTENTS. 



xi 



Thunder-storm, personified as Haokah, Tupa, Catequil, 
Contici, Heno, Tlaloc, Mixcoatl, and other deities, many of 
them triune 144 

CHAPTEK VI. 

THE SUPREME GODS OF THE RED RACE. 

Analysis of American culture myths. — The Manibozho or 
Michabo of the Algonkins shown to be an impersonation of 
Light, a hero of the Dawn, and their highest deity. — The 
myths of Ioskeha of the Iroquois, Viracocha of the Peru- 
vians, and Quetzalcoatl of the Toltecs essentially the same 
as that of Michabo. — Other examples. — Ante-Columbian 
prophecies of the advent of a white race from the east as 
conquerors. — Rise of later culture myths under similar forms 191 

CHAPTER VII. 
the myths op the creation, the deluge, THE EPOCHS 

OP NATURE, AND THE LAST DAY. 

Cosmogonies usually portray the action of the Spirit on the 
Waters. — Those of the Muscogees, Athapascas, Quiches, 
Mixtecs, Iroquois, Algonkins, and others. — The Flood-Myth 
an unconscious attempt to reconcile a creation in time with 
the eternity of matter. — Proof of this from American my- 
thology — Characteristics of American Flood-Myths. — The 
person saved usually the first man. — The number seven. — 
Their Ararats. — The r61e of birds. — The confusion of 
tongues. — The Aztec, Quiche", Algonkin, Tupi, and earliest 
Sanscrit flood-myths. — The belief in Epochs of Nature a 
further result of this attempt at reconciliation. — Its forms 
among Peruvians, Mayas, and Aztecs. — The expectation of 
the End of the World a corollary of this belief. — Views of 
various nations 226 

CHAPTER VIII. 

THE ORIGIN OP MAN. 

Usually man is the Earth-born, both in language and myths. 
■ — The Earth -Mother. — Illustrations from the legends of the 
Caribs,-Apalachians, Iroquois, Quichuas, Aztecs, and others. 



xii 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

— The under- world. — Man the product of one of the primal 
creative powers, the Spirit, or the Water, in the myths of 
the Athapascas, Eskimos, Moxos, and others. — Not literally 
derived from an inferior species 257 

CHAPTEE IX. 

THE SOUL AND ITS DESTINY. 

Universality of the belief in a soul and a future state shown by 
the aboriginal tongues, by expressed opinions, and by sepul- 
chral rites. — The Seat of the Soul. — The "name soul." — 
The future world never a place of rewards and punishments. 
— The house of the Sun the heaven of the red man. — The 
terrestrial paradise and the under-world. — Qupay. — Xibalba. 
— Mictlan. — Metempsychosis. — Preservation of Bones. — 
Mummies. — Belief in a resurrection of the dead almost uni- 
versal 271 

CHAPTEE X. 

THE NATIVE PRIESTHOOD. 

Their titles. — Practitioners of the healing art by supernatural 
means. — Their power derived from natural magic and the 
exercise of the clairvoyant and mesmeric faculties. — Exam- 
ples. — Epidemic hysteria. — Their social position. — Their 
duties as religious functionaries. — Terms of admission to the 
Priesthood. — Inner organization in various nations. — Their 
esoteric language and secret societies 304 

CHAPTEE XL 

THE INFLUENCE OF THE NATIVE RELIGIONS ON THE 
MORAL AND SOCIAL LIFE OF THE RACE. 

Natural religions hitherto considered of Evil rather than of 
Good. — Distinctions to be drawn. — Morality not derived 
from religion. — The positive side of natural religions in in- 
carnations of divinity. — Examples. — Prayers as indices of 
religious progress. — Eeligion and social advancement. — 
Conclusion 329 

T. Index of Authorities 347 

TT. Index of Subjects ' 351 



THE MYTHS OF THE NEW WORLD. 



CHAPTER I. 



GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS ON THE RED RACE. 

Natural religions the unaided attempts of man to find out God, 
modified by peculiarities of race and nation. — The peculiarities 
of the red race : 1. Its languages unfriendly to abstract ideas. 
Native modes of writing by means of pictures, symbols, objects, 
and phonetic signs. These various methods compared in their 
influence on the intellectual faculties. 2. Its isolation, unique 
in the history of the world. 3. Beyond all others, a hunting 
race. — Principal linguistic subdivisions : 1. The Eskimos. 2. 
The Athapascas. 3. The Algonkins and Iroquois. 4. The 
Apalachian tribes. 5. The Dakotas. 6. The Aztecs. 7. The 
Mayas. 8. The Muyscas. 9. The Quichuas. 10. The Caribs 
and Tupis. 11. The Araucanians. — General course of migra- 
tions. — Age of man in America. — Unity of type in the red race. 
— Mythological parallels. — Bibliographical note. 



HEN Paul, at the request of the philosophers of 



» * Athens, explained to them his views on divine 
things, he asserted, among other startling novelties, 
that "God has made of one blood all nations of the 
earth, that they should seek the Lord, if haply they 
might feel after him and find him, though he is not 
far from every one of us." 

Here was an orator advocating the unity of the 
human species, affirming that the chief end of man is 




(13) 



14 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS ON THE RED RACE. 

to develop an innate idea of God, and that all reli- 
gions, except the one he preached, were examples of 
more or less unsuccessful attempts to do so. No 
wonder the Athenians, who acknowledged no kinship 
to barbarians, who looked dubiously at the doctrine of 
innate ideas, and were divided in opinion as to whether 
their mythology was a shrewd device of legislators to 
keep the populace in subjection, a veiled natural phi- 
losophy, or the celestial reflex of their own history, 
mocked at such a babbler and went their ways. The 
generations of philosophers that followed them partook 
of their doubts and approved their opinions, quite 
down to our own times. 

But now, after weighing the question maturely, we 
are compelled to admit that the Apostle was not so 
wide of the mark after all — that, in fact, the latest and 
best authorities, with no bias in his favor, support his 
position and may almost be said to paraphrase his 
words. For according to a late writer whose work is 
still a standard in the science of ethnology, the 
severest and most patient investigations show that 
" not only do acknowledged facts permit the assump- 
tion of the unity of the human species, but this opinion 
is attended with fewer discrepancies, and has greater 
inner consistency than the opposite one of specific 
diversity." 1 And as to the religions of heathendom, 
the view of St. Paul is but expressed with a more 
poetic turn by a distinguished philosopher when he 
calls them, " not fables, but truths, though clothed in 
a garb woven by fancy, wherein the web is the notion 

1 Waitz, Anthropobgie der Naturvoelker, i. p. 256. The theory of 
" monogenism, " or the specific unity of Man, is now adopted by 
most anthropologists. 



MEANING OF MYTHOLOGY. 



15 



of God, the ideal of reason in the soul of man, the 
thought of the Infinite." 1 

Inspiration and science unite therefore to bid us dis- 
miss as effete the prejudice that natural religions 
either arise as the ancient philosophies taught, or that 
they are. as the Dark Ages imagined, subtle nets of the 
devil spread to catch human souls. They are rather 
the unaided attempts of man to find out God ; they are 
the efforts of the reason struggling to define the in- 
finite; they are the expressions of that "yearning 
after the gods " which the earliest of poets discerned in 
the hearts of all men. 

Studied in this sense they are rich in teachings. 
Would we estimate the intellectual and aesthetic culture 
of a people, would we generalize the laws of progress, 
would we appreciate the sublimity of Christianity, and 
read the seals of its authenticity : the natural concep- 
tions of divinity reveal them. No mythologies are so 
crude, therefore, none so barbarous, but deserve the 
attention of the philosophic mind, for they are never 
the empty fictions of an idle fancy, but rather the 
utterances, however inarticulate, of an intuition of 
reason. 

These considerations embolden me to approach with 
some confidence even the aboriginal religions of 
America, so often stigmatized as incoherent fetichisms, 
so barren, it has been said, in grand or beautiful con- 
ceptions. The task bristles with difficulties. Careless- 
ness, prepossessions, and ignorance have disfigured 
them with false colors and foreign additions without 
number. The first maxim, therefore, must be to sift 

i Carriere, Die Kunst im Zusammenhang der Culturentiuickelutog f 
i. p. 66. 



16 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS ON THE RED RACE. 



and scrutinize authorities, and to reject whatever be- 
trays the plastic hand of the European. For the 
religions developed by the Red Race, not those mixed 
creeds learned from foreign invaders, not the old 
myths as colored and shot with the hues of Aryan and 
Semitic imagery, are to be the subjects of our study. 

Then will remain the formidable undertaking of 
reducing the authentic materials thus obtained to 
system and order, and this not by any preconceived 
theory of what they ought to conform to, but learning 
from them the very laws of religious growth they 
illustrate. 

The historian traces the birth of arts, science, and 
government to man's dependence on nature and his 
fellows for the means of self-preservation. Not that 
man receives these endowments from without, but that 
the stern step-mother, Nature, forces him by threats 
and stripes to develop his own inherent faculties. So 
with religion. The idea of God does not, and cannot, 
proceed from the external world, but, nevertheless, it 
finds its historical origin also in the desperate struggle 
for life, in the satisfaction of the animal wants and pas- 
sions, in those vulgar aims and motives which possessed 
the mind of the primitive man to the exclusion of 
everything else. 

There is an ever present embarrassment in such in- 
quiries. In dealing with these matters beyond the 
cognizance of the senses, the mind is forced to express 
its meaning in terms transferred from sensuous percep- 
tions, or under symbols borrowed from the material 
world. These transfers must be understood, these 
symbols explained, before the real meaning of a myth 
can be reached. He who fails to guess the riddle of the 
sphinx, need not hope to gain admittance :o the shrine. 



RELIGIOUS RITES. 



17 



With delicate ear the faint whispers of thought must be 
apprehended which prompt the intellect when it names 
the immaterial from the material; when it has to seek 
amid its concrete conceptions for those suited to convey 
its abstract intuitions ; when it chooses from the in- 
finity of visible forms those meet to shadow forth 
divinity. 

Two lights will guide us on this venturesome path. 
Mindful of the watchword of inductive science, to 
proceed from the known to the unknown, the inquiry 
will first be put whether the aboriginal languages of 
America employ the same tropes to express such ideas 
as deity, spirit, and soul, as our own and kindred 
tongues. If the answer prove affirmative, then not 
only have we gained a firm foothold whence to survey 
the whole edifice of their mythology ; but from an un- 
expected quarter arises evidence of the unity of our 
species, far weightier than any mere anatomy can 
furnish, evidence from the living soul, not from the 
dead body. True that the science of American lin- 
guistics is still almost in its infancy, and that an ex- 
haustive handling of the materials it even now offers 
involves a more critical acquaintance with its innu- 
merable dialects than I possess ; but though the glean- 
ing be sparse, it is enough that I break the ground. 

Secondly, religious rites are unconscious commenta- 
ries on religious beliefs. At first they are rude represen- 
tations of the supposed doingS"of the gods. The Indian 
rain-maker mounts to the roof of his hut, and rattling 
vigorously a dry gourd containing pebbles, to represent 
the thunder, scatters water through a reed on the 
ground beneath, as he imagines up above in the clouds 
do the spirits of the storm. Every spring in ancient 
Delphi was repeated in scenic ceremony the combat of 

2 



18 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS ON TEE RED RACE. 



Apollo and the Dragon, the victory of the lord of 
bright summer over the demon of chilling winter. 
Thus do forms and ceremonies reveal the meaning of 
mythology, and the origin of its fables. 

Let it not be objected that this proposed method of 
analysis assumes that religions begin and develop 
under the operation of inflexible laws. The soul is 
shackled by no such fatalism. Formative influences 
there are. deep seated, far reaching, escaped by few; 
but like those which of yore astrologers imputed to the 
stars, they potently incline, they do not coerce. Lan- 
guage, pursuits, habits, geographical position, and 
those subtle mental traits which make up the character- 
istics of races and nations, all tend to deflect from a 
given standard the religious life of the individual and 
the mass. It is essential to give these due weight, and 
a necessary preface therefore to an analysis of the 
myths of the red race is an enumeration of its pecu- 
liarities, and of its chief families as they were located 
when first known to the historian. 

Of all such modifying circumstances none has 
greater importance than the means of expressing and 
transmitting intellectual action. The spoken and the 
written language of a nation reveals to us its prevail- 
ing, and to a certain degree its unavoidable mode of 
thought. Here the red race offers a notable phenom- 
enon. Scarcely any other trait, physical or mental, 
binds together its scattered clans so unmistakably as 
this of language. From the Frozen Ocean to the Land 
of Fire, with few exceptions the native dialects, though 
varying endlessly in words, are alike in certain pecu- 
liarities of construction, certain morphological fea- 
tures, rarely found elsewhere on the globe, and nowhere 
else with such persistence. 



INCORPOEATIVE TONGUES. 



19 



So foreign are these traits to the grammar of the 
Aryan tongues that it is not easy to explain them in a 
few sentences. They depend on a peculiarly complex 
method of presenting the relations of the idea in the 
word. This construction has been called by some 
philologists polysynthesis ; but it is better to retain for its 
chief characteristic the term originally applied to it by 
Wilhelm von Humboldt, incorporation (Einverleibung). 

What it is will best appear by comparison. Every 
grammatical sentence conveys one leading idea with its 
modifications and relations. Now a Chinese would 
express these latter by unconnected syllables, the pre- 
cise bearing of which could only be guessed by their 
position ; a Greek or a German would use independent 
words, indicating their relations by terminations mean- 
ingless in themselves ; a Finn would add syllable after 
syllable to the end of the principal word, each modify- 
ing the main idea ; an Englishman gains the same end 
chiefly by the use of particles and by position. 

Very different from all these is the spirit of an incor- 
porative language. It seeks to unite in the most inti- 
mate manner all relations and modifications with the 
leading idea, to merge one in the other by altering the 
forms of the words themselves and welding them to- 
gether, to express the whole in one word, and to banish 
any conception except as it arises in relation to 
others. 1 Thus in many American tongues there is, in 

1 The term polysynthesis refers properly to the external form of 
the expression, incorporation to the linguistic process itself. Incor- 
poration was fully defined and illustrated by Wilhelm von Hum- 
boldt in his celebrated essay prefixed to his work on the Kawi 
language, £ 17. It has since been explained with abundant clear- 
ness by Steinthal in his Charakteristik der Typen des Spraclibaucs. 
The assertion repeatedly advanced by writers superficially ac- 



20 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS ON THE RED RACE. 

fact, no word for father, mother, brother, but only for 
my, your, his father, etc. This has advantages and de- 
fects. It offers marvelous facilities for defining the 
perceptions of the senses with accuracy ; but regarding 
everything in the concrete, it is unfriendly to the 
nobler labors of the mind, to abstraction and generali- 
zation. 

In the numberless changes of these languages, their 
bewildering flexibility, their variable forms, and their 
rapid alteration, they seem to betray a lack of individ- 
uality, and to resemble the vague and tumultuous 
history of the tribes who employ them. They exhibit 
at times a strange laxity. It is nothing uncommon for 
the two sexes to use different names for the same 
object, and for nobles and vulgar, priests and people, 
the old and the young, nay, even the married and 
single, to observe what seems to the European ear quite 
different modes of expression. Their phonetics are 
fluctuating, the consonantal sounds often alternating 
between several which in our tongue are clearly defined. 

Families and whole villages suddenly drop words and 
manufacture others in their places out of mere caprice 
or superstition, and a few years' separation suffices to 
produce a marked dialectic difference ; though it is 
everywhere true that the basic radicals of each stock 
and the main outlines of its grammatical forms reveal 

quainted with the process that it is the same as agglutination, or a 
form of it, proves that they are not familiar with the subject 
Incorporation may exist without polysynthesis, as is the case in 
the Otomi and various other American tongues. Those who would 
pursue the question further may consult my Essays of an Americanist, 
pp. 328, sqq ; and Heinrich "Winkler, Zur Sprachgeschichte, passim. 
Another term for incorporation, employed by M. Cuoq, is intro- 
sv^ception. (Jugement errone sur les Langues Sauvages. 2d Ed., p. 31.) 



FUNDAMENTAL MYTHS. 



21 



a surprising tenacity in the midst of these surface 
changes. Vocabularies collected by the earliest navi- 
gators are easily recognized from existing tongues, and 
the widest wanderings of vagrant bands can be traced 
by the continued relationship of their dialects to the 
parent stem. 

In their copious forms and facility of reproduction 
they remind one of those anomalous animals, in whom, 
when a limb is lopped, it rapidly grows again, or even 
if cut in pieces each part will enter on a separate life 
quite unconcerned about his fellows. But as the natu- 
ralist is far from regarding this superabundant vitality 
as a characteristic of a higher type, so the philologist 
justly assigns these tongues a low position in the lin- 
guistic scale. Fidelity to form, here as everywhere, is 
the test of excellence. 

At the outset, we divine there can be nothing very 
subtle in the mythologies of nations with such lan- 
guages. Much there must be that will be obscure, 
much that is vague, an exhausting variety in repeti- 
tion, and a strong tendency to lose the idea in the sym- 
bol. 

What definiteness of outline might be preserved 
must depend on the care with which the old stories of 
the gods were passed from one person and one gener- 
ation to another. The fundamental myths of a race 
have a surprising tenacity of life. How many centu- 
ries had elapsed between the period the Germanic 
hordes separated from the Argans of Central Asia, and 
when Tacitus listened to their wild songs on the banks 
of the Rhine ? Yet we know that through those un- 
numbered ages of barbarism and aimless roving, these 
songs, "their only sort of history or annals," says the 
historian, had preserved intact the story of Mannus, the 



22 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS ON THE RED RACE. 



Sanscrit Manu, and his three sons, and of the great god 
Tuisco, the Indian Dyu. 1 

So much the more do all means invented by the red 
race to record and transmit thought merit our careful 
attention. Few and feeble they seem to us, mainly 
shifts to aid the memory. Of some such, perhaps, not 
a single tribe was destitute. The tattoo marks on the 
warrior's breast, his string of grisly scalps, the bear's 
claws around his neck, were not only trophies of his 
prowess, but records of his exploits, and to the con- 
templative mind contain the rudiments of the benefi- 
cent art of letters. Did he draw in rude outline on his 
skin tent figures of men transfixed with arrows as many 
as he had slain enemies, his education was rapidly ad- 
vancing. He had mastered the elements of picture 
writing, beyond which hardly the wisest of his race pro- 
gressed. Figures of the natural objects connected by 
symbols having fixed meanings make up the whole of 
this art. The relative frequency of the latter marks its 
advancement from a merely figurative to an ideo- 
graphic notation. 

On what principle of mental association a given sign 
was adopted to express a certain idea, why, for in- 
stance, on the Chipeway scrolls a circle means spirits, 
and a horned snake life, it is often hard to guess. The 
difficulty grows when we find that to the initiated the 
same sign calls up quite different ideas, as the subject of 
the writer varies from war to love, or from the chase to 
religion. The connection is generally beyond the 
power of divination, and the key to ideographic writ- 
ing once lost can never be recovered. 

The number of such arbitrary characters in the 

1 Grimm, Geschichte der Deutschen Sprache, p. 571. 



PICTURE WHITING. 



Chipeway notation is said to be over two hundred; 
but if the distinction between a figure and a sj^mbol 
were rigidly applied, it would be much reduced. This 
kind of writing, if it deserves the name, was common 
throughout the continent, and many specimens of it, 
scratched on the plane surfaces of stones, have been pre- 
served to the present day. Such is the once celebrated 
inscription on Dighton Rock, Massachusetts, long sup- 
posed to be a record of the Northmen of Vinland ; such 
are those that mark the faces of the cliffs which overhang 
the waters of the Orinoco, and those that in Oregon, 
Peru and La Plata have been the subject of much 
curious speculation. They are alike the mute epitaphs 
of vanished generations. 1 

I would it could be said that in favorable contrast to 
our ignorance of these inscriptions is our comprehen- 
sion of the highly wrought pictography of the Nahuas 
or Aztecs. 2 No nation ever reduced it more to a sys- 
tem. It was in constant use in the daily transactions 
of life. They manufactured for writing purposes a 
thick, coarse paper from the leaves of the agave plant 
by a process of maceration and pressure. 

An Aztec book closely resembles one of our quarto 
volumes. It is made of a single sheet, twelve to fifteen 
inches wide, and often sixty or seventy feet long, and is 
not rolled, but folded either in squares or zigzags in 
such a manner that on opening it there are two pages 
exposed to view. Thin wooden boards are fastened to 
each of the outer leaves, so that the whole presents as 
neat an appearance, remarks Peter Martyr as if it had 

1 The classical work on the subject is Garrick Mallery, Picture 
Writing of the American Indians (Washington, 1893). 

2 The Aztecs and many other tribes of Mexico spoke the Nahuatl 
language, and hence are called collectively Nahuas. 



24 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS ON THE RED RACE. 



come from the shop of a skilful bookbinder. They 
also covered buildings, tapestries and scrolls of parch- 
ment with these devices, and for trifling transactions 
were familiar with the use of slates of soft stone from 
which the figures could readily be erased with water. 1 
What is still more astonishing, there is reason to be- 
lieve, in some instances, their figures were not painted, 
but actually printed with movable blocks of wood on 
which the symbols were carved in relief, though this 
was probably confined to those intended for ornament 
only. 

In these records we discern something higher than a 
mere symbolic notation. They contain the germ of a 
phonetic alphabet, and represent sounds of spoken 
language. The symbol is often not connected with the 
idea but with the word. The mode in which this is 
done corresponds precisely to that of the rebus. It is 
a simple method, readily suggesting itself. In the 
middle ages it was much in vogue in Europe for the 
same purpose for which it was chiefly employed in 
Mexico at the same time — the writing of proper names. 
For example, the English family Bolton was known in 
heraldry by a tun transfixed by a bolt Precisely so the 
Mexican emperor Ixcoatl is mentioned in the Aztec 
manuscripts under the figure of a serpent coatl, pierced 
by obsidian knives ixtli; and Moquauhzoma by a 
mouse-trap montli, an eagle quauhtli, a lancet zo> and a 
hand maitl. 

As a syllable could be expressed by any object whose 
name commenced with it, as few words can be given 
the form of a rebus without some change, as the figures 
sometimes represent their full phonetic value, some- 

1 Peter Martyr, De Insulis nuper Hepertis, p. 354 : Colon, 1574. 



NATIVE WRITING: 



25 



times only that of their initial sound, and as universally 
the attention of the artist was directed less to the sound 
than to the idea, the didactic painting of the Mexicans, 
whatever it might have been to them, is a sealed book 
to us, and must remain so in great part. Moreover, in 
many instances it is undetermined whether it should 
be read from the first to the last page, or vice versa, 
whether from right to left or from left to right, from 
bottom to top or from top to bottom, around the edges 
of the page toward the centre, or each line in the oppo- 
site direction from the preceding one. There are good 
authorities for all these methods, and they may all be 
correct, for there is no evidence that any fixed rule had 
been laid down in this respect. 1 

Immense masses of such documents were stored in 
the archives of ancient Mexico. The historian Torque- 
mada asserts that five cities alone yielded to the Spanish 
governor on one requisition no less than sixteen thou- 
sand volumes or scrolls ! Every leaf was destroyed. 
Indeed, so thorough and wholesale was the destruction 
of these memorials now so precious in our eyes that 
very few remain to whet the wits of antiquaries. 

What there are, however, have been diligently col- 
lected and published by the interest of learned societies 
and the generosity of individuals, so that the student 
has a reasonable apparatus at hand for his attention. 

Beyond all others the Mayas, resident on the penin- 
sula of Yucatan and in the adjacent parts of Central 
America, seem to have approached nearest to a definite 
graphic system. Several of their books, written before 

1 The principal recent authorities on the Mexican picture writ- 
ing are Dr. E. Seler, and Dr. Antonio Penafiel. For the earlier 
views see Waitz, Anthropologic der Naturvoelker, Bd. IV, p. 173. 



26 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS ON THE RED RACE. 



the Europeans invaded their country, have been pre- 
served, and innumerable inscriptions on the stone 
facades of walls, on their pottery, and on wooden 
beams, remain to attest the uniformity of their method 
throughout nearly the whole area occupied by their 
many affiliated tribes. This native literature has been 
searchingly analyzed by Forstemann, Seler, Schellhas, 
Cyrus Thomas and other scholars, and the results 
though far from exhaustive are so complete that the 
general tenor and purpose.of most of such writings can 
be ascertained. We do not find a developed phonetic 
system and yet one more than pictographic. The 
figures are combinations of symbols, ideograms and 
phonetic equivalents, the last mentioned being in suffi- 
ciently large proportion to render some knowledge of 
the Maya language necessary to an interpretation of 
the records. 1 

In South America, also, there is said to have been a 
nation who cultivated the art of picture writing, the 
Panos, on the river Ucayale. A missionary, Narcisso 
Gilbar by name, once penetrated, with great toil, to one 
of their villages. As he approached he beheld a ven- 
erable man seated under the shade of a palm tree, with 
a great book open before him from which he was read- 
ing to an attentive circle of auditors the wars and wan- 
derings of their forefathers. With difficulty the priest 
got a sight of the precious volume, and found it covered 
with figures and signs in marvelous symmetry and 

1 An idea of the zeal with which the study of the Maya writing 
has been prosecuted may be gained from an examination of Dr. 
K. Haebler' s bibliography of it published in the number for De- 
cember, 1895, of the Centralblatt fur BihliotJiehwesen. It mentions 
436 titles ! For a summary of the subject I may refer to my Primer 
of Mayan Hieroglyphics. (Boston, 1895.) 



QUIPVS. 



27 



order. 1 No wonder such a romantic scene left a deep 
impression on his mind. 

The Peruvians adopted a totally different and unique 
system of records, that by means of the quipu. This 
was a base cord, the thickness of the finger, of any re- 
quired length, to which were attached numerous small 
strings of different colors, lengths, and textures, vari- 
ously knotted and twisted one with another. Each of 
these peculiarities represented a certain number, a qual- 
ity, quantity, or other idea, but what, not the most 
fluent quipu reader could tell unless he was acquainted 
with the general topic treated of. Therefore, whenever 
news was sent in this manner a person accompanied 
the bearer to serve as verbal commentator, and to pre- 
vent confusion the quipus relating to the various depart- 
ments of knowledge were placed in separate storehouses, 
one for war, another for taxes, a third for history, and 
so forth. 

On what principle of mnemotechnics the ideas were 
connected with the knots and colors we are very much 
in the dark; it has even been doubted whether they 
had any application beyond the art of numeration. 2 
Each combination had, however, a fixed ideographic 
value in a certain branch of knowledge, and thus the 
quipu differed essentially from the Catholic rosary, the 
Jewish phylactery, or the knotted strings of the natives 
of North America and Siberia, to all of which it has at 
times been compared. 

1 Humboldt, Vues des Cordilleres, p. 72. 

2 Desjardins, Le Perou avant la ConquHe Espagnole, p. 122. 
Modern quipu reading is explained by Max Uhle in the Eihnolo- 
gisches Notizblatt, Heft. 2, 1895. An early author on Peru states 
that the most recondite theories of the native religious philosophy 
were recorded by quipus. (Relacion Anonima in Tres Pelaciones Peru- 
anas, Madrid, 1879.) 



28 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS ON THE RED RACE. 

The wampum used by the tribes of the north Atlantic 
coast was, in many respects, analogous to the quipu. 
In early times it was composed chiefly of bits of wood 
or shell of equal size, but different colors. These were 
hung on strings which were woven into belts and 
bands, the hues, shapes, sizes, and combinations of the 
strings hinting their general significance. Thus the 
lighter shades were invariably harbingers of peaceful or 
pleasant tidings, while the darker portended war and 
danger. The general substitution of beads in place of 
wood, and the custom of embroidering figures in the 
belts were, probably, introduced by European influence. 

Besides these, various simpler mnemonic aids were 
employed, such as parcels of reeds of different lengths, 
notched sticks, knots in cords, strings of pebbles or 
fruit-stones, circular pieces of wood, small wheels or 
slabs pierced with different figures which the English 
liken to " cony holes," and at a victory, a treaty, or the 
founding of a village, sometimes a pillar or heap of 
stones was erected equalling in number the persons 
present at the occasion, or the count of the fallen. 

This exhausts the list. All other methods of writ- 
ing, the hieroglyphs of the Micmacs of Acadia, the syl- 
labic alphabet of the Cherokees, the pretended traces of 
Greek, Hebrew, and Celtiberic letters which have from 
time to time been brought to the notice of the public, 
have been without exception the products of foreign 
civilization or simply frauds. Not a single coin, in- 
scription, or memorial of any kind whatever, has been 
found on the American continent showing the employ- 
ment, either generally or locally, of any other means of 
writing than those specified. 

Poor as these substitutes for a developed phonetic 
system seem to us, they were of great value to the 



NA TIVE LITER A TUBE. 



29 



uncultivated man. In his legends their introduction 
is usually ascribed to some heaven-sent benefactor, the 
antique characters were jealously adhered to, and the 
pictured scroll of bark, the quipu ball, the belt of 
wampum, were treasured with provident care, and 
their import minutely expounded to the most intelli- 
gent of the rising generation. In all communities 
beyond the stage of barbarism a class of persons was 
set apart for this duty and no other. Thus, for exam- 
ple, in ancient Peru, one college of priests styled 
amauta, learned, had exclusive charge over the quipus 
containing the mythological and historical traditions ; 
a second, the haravecs, singers, devoted themselves to 
those referring to the national ballads and dramas ; 
while a third occupied their time solely with those per- 
taining to civil affairs. 

Such custodians preserved and prepared the archives, 
learned by heart with their aid what their fathers 
knew, and in some countries, as, for instance, among 
the Panos mentioned above, and the Quiches of Guate- 
mala, 1 repeated portions of them at times to the 
assembled populace. It has even been averred by one 
of their converted chiefs, long a missionary to his fel- 
lows, that the Chipeways of Lake Superior have a 
college composed of ten "of the wisest and most vener- 
erable of their nation," who have in charge the pictured 
records containing the ancient history of their tribe. 
These are kept in an underground chamber, and are 
disinterred every fifteen years by the assembled guar- 
dians, that they may be repaired, and their contents 
explained to new members of the society. 2 

1 An instance is given by Ximenes, Origen de los Indios de Oua- 
temala, p. 186. 

2 George Copway, Traditional History of the Ojibway Nation, p. 



30 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS ON THE RED RACE. 



In spite of these precautions, the end seems to have 
been very imperfectly attained. The most distin- 
guished characters, the weightiest events in national 
history faded into oblivion after a few generations. The 
time and circumstances of the formation of the league 
of the Five Nations, the dispersion of the mound 
builders of the Ohio valley in the fifteenth century, 
the chronicles of Peru or Mexico beyond a century or 
two anterior to the conquest, the genealogies of their 
ruling families, are preserved in such a vague and con- 
tradictory manner that they have slight value as 
history. 

Their mythology fared somewhat better, for not only 
was it kept fresh in the memory by frequent repetition ; 
but being itself founded in nature, it was constantly 
nourished by the truths which gave it birth. Never- 
theless, we may profit by the warning to remember 
that their myths are myths only, and not the reflec- 
tions of history or heroes. 

Rising from these details to a general comparison of 
the symbolic and phonetic systems in their reactions 
on the mind, the most obvious are their contrasted 
effects on the faculty of memory. Letters represent 
elementary sounds, which are few in any language, 
while symbols stand for ideas, and they are numerically 
infinite. The transmission of knowledge by means of 
the latter is consequently attended with most dispro- 
portionate labor. It is almost as if we could quote 
nothing from an author unless we could recollect his 
exact words. We have a right to look for excellent 
memories where such a mode is in vogue, and in the 

130 (London, 1850). Mr. Horatio Hale tells me that the Iroquois 
still preserve a similar institution to keep up the interpretation of 
their wampum belts. 



NATIVE SONGS. 



31 



present instance we are not disappointed. " These 
savages," exclaims La Hontan, "have the happiest 
memories in the world !" It was etiquette at their 
councils for each speaker to repeat verbatim all his 
predecessors had said, and the whites were often aston- 
ished and confused at the verbal fidelity with which 
the natives recalled the transactions of long past 
treaties. 

Their songs were inexhaustible. An instance is on 
record where an Indian sang two hundred on various 
subjects. 1 Such a fact reminds us of a beautiful ex- 
pression of the elder Humboldt: "Man," he says, 
" regarded as an animal, belongs to one of the singing 
species ; but his notes are always associated with 
ideas." The youth who were educated at the public 
schools of ancient Mexico — for that realm, so far from 
neglecting the cause of popular education, established 
houses for gratuitous instruction, and to a certain ex- 
tent made the attendance upon them obligatory — 
learned by rote long orations, poems and prayers with 
a facility astonishing to the conquerors, and surpassing 
anything they were accustomed to see in the univer- 
sities of Old Spain. 

A phonetic system actually weakens the retentive 
powers of the mind by offering a more facile plan for 
preserving thought. " Ce que je mets sur papier, je remets 
de ma memoire" is an expression of old Montaigne 
which he could never have used had he employed 
ideographic characters. 

Memory, however, is of far less importance than a 
free activity of thought, untrammelled by forms or 

1 Morse, Report on the Indian Tribes, App. p. 352. Similar in- 
stances have been reported by Dr. Washington Matthews, Mr. 
Frank H. Cushing and other close observers of the modern Indian. 



32 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS ON TEE RED RACE. 



precedents, and ever alert to novel combinations of 
ideas. Give a race this, and it will guide it to civiliza- 
tion as surely as the needle directs the ship to its haven. 
It is here that ideographic writing reveals its fatal in- 
feriority. It is forever specifying, materializing, dealing 
in minutiae. In the Egyptian symbolic alphabet there 
is a figure for a virgin, another for a married woman, 
for a widow without offspring, for a widow with one 
child, two children, and I know not in how many other 
circumstances, but for woman there is no sign. It must 
be so in the nature of things, for the symbol represents 
the object as it appears or is fancied to appear, and not 
as it is thought Furthermore, the constant learning by 
heart infallibly leads to heedless repetition and mental 
servility. 

A symbol when understood is independent of sound, 
and is as universally current as an Arabic numeral. 
But this divorce of spoken and written language 
is of questionable advantage. It at once destroys 
all permanent improvement in a tongue through ele- 
gance of style, sonorous periods, or delicacy of expres- 
sion, and the life of the language itself is weakened 
when its forms are left to fluctuate uncontrolled. 
Written poetry, grammar, rhetoric, all are impossible 
to the student who draws his knowledge from such a 
source. 

Finally, it has been justly observed by the younger 
Humboldt that the painful fidelity to the antique 
figures transmitted from barbarous to polished gener- 
ations is injurious to the aesthetic sense, and dulls the 
mind to the beautiful in art and nature. 

The transmission of thought by figures and symbols 
would, on the whole, therefore, foster those narrow and 
material tendencies which the genius of incorporative 



RACIAL TRAITS. 



33 



languages would seem calculated to produce. Its one 
redeeming trait of strengthening the memory will serve 
to explain the strange tenacity with which certain 
myths have been preserved through widely dispersed 
families, as we shall hereafter see. 

Besides this of language there are two traits in the 
history of the red man without parallel in that of any 
other variety of our species which has achieved any 
notable progress in civilization. 

The one is his isolation. Cut off time out of mind 
from the rest of the world, he never underwent those 
crossings of blood and culture which so modified and 
on the whole promoted the growth of the old world 
nationalities. In his own way he worked out his own 
destiny, and what he won was his with a more than 
ordinary right of ownership. For all those old dreams 
of the advent of the Ten Lost Tribes, of Buddhist 
priests, of Welsh princes, or of Phenician merchants 
on American soil, and there exerting a permanent 
influence, have been consigned to the dust-bin by every 
unbiased student, and when we see learned men essay- 
ing to resuscitate them, we regretfully look upon it in 
the light of a scientific anachronism. 1 The most com- 
petent observers are agreed that American art bears the 
indisputable stamp of its indigenous growth. Those 
analogies and identities which have been brought for- 
ward to prove its Asiatic or European or Polynesian 
origin, whether in myth, folk-lore or technical details, 

1 These words, written thirty years ago, have not been in the 
least invalidated by subsequent research. There are still a few 
writers who, misconstruing the meaning of analogies of culture, 
continue to produce them as evidence of the foreign origin of na- 
tive American civilization ; but their number is yearly dimin- 
ishing. 

3 



34 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS ON THE RED RACE. 



belong wholly and only to the uniform development of 
human culture under similar conditions. This is their 
true anthropological interpretation, and we need no 
other. 

The second trait is the entire absence of the herds- 
man's life with its softening associations. Throughout 
the continent there is not a single authentic instance of 
a pastoral tribe, not one of an animal raised for its 
milk, nor for the transportation of persons, and very 
few for their flesh. 1 It was essentially a hunting race. 
The most civilized nations looked to the chase for their 
chief supply of meat, and the courts of Cuzco and 
Mexico enacted stringent game and forest laws, and at 
certain periods the whole population turned out for a 
general crusade against the denizens of the forest. In 
the most densely settled districts the conquerors found 
vast stretches of primitive woods. 

If we consider the life of a hunter, pitting his skill 
and strength against the marvelous instincts and quick 
perceptions of the brute, training his senses to preter- 
natural acuteness, but blunting his more tender feelings, 
his sole aim to shed blood and take life, dependent on 
luck for his food, exposed to deprivations, storms and 
long wanderings, his chief diet flesh, we may more 
readily comprehend that conspicuous disregard of 
human suffering, those sanguinary rites, that vindictive 
spirit, that inappeasable restlessness, which we so often 
find in the chronicles of ancient America. The old 

1 The lamas in Peru were domesticated in considerable numbers, 
chiefly for the fleece. Some similar animal may have been 
tamed by the ancient inhabitants of the Kio Salado, and Gomara 
asserts that a tribe near Cape Hatteras kept flocks of deer (Hist, 
de las Indias, cap. 43). Dogs were occasionally trained to draw 
loads, but not as pack animals. 



THE MAIZE. 



35 



English law with reason objected to accepting a butcher 
as a juror on a trial for life; here is a whole race of 
butchers 

The one mollifying element was agriculture. On the 
altar of Mixcoatl, god of hunting, the Aztec priest tore 
the heart from the human victim and smeared with 
the spouting blood the snake that coiled its length 
around the idol; flowers and fruits, yellow ears of 
maize and clusters of rich bananas decked the shrine 
of Centeotl, beneficent patroness of agriculture, and 
bloodless offerings alone were her appropriate dues. 

This shows how clear, even to the native mind, was 
the contrast between these two modes of subsistence. 
By substituting a sedentary for a wandering life, by 
supplying a fixed dependence for an uncertain con- 
tingency, and by admonishing man that in preservation, 
not in destruction, lies his most remunerative sphere 
of activity, we can hardly estimate too highly the wide 
distribution of the zea mays. This was the only general 
cereal, and it was found in cultivation from the 
southern extremity of Chili to the fiftieth parallel of 
of north latitude, beyond which limits the low temper- 
ature renders it an uncertain crop. In their legends it 
is represented as the gift of the Great Spirit (Chipe- 
ways), brought from the terrestrial Paradise by the 
sacred animals (Quiches), and symbolically the mother 
of the race (Nahuas), and the material from which was 
moulded the first of men (Quiches). 1 

As the races, so the great families of man who speak 
dialects of the same tongue are, in a sense, individuals, 
bearing each its own physiognomy. When the whites 

1 Dr. J. W. Harshberger, in his Maize : a Botanical and Economic 
Study (1893), enters at considerable length into the historical ques- 
tion of its origin and early distribution in America. 



36 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS ON THE RED RACE. 



first heard the uncouth gutturals of the Indians, they 
frequently proclaimed that hundreds of radically 
diverse languages, invented, it was piously suggested, 
by the devil for the annoyance of missionaries, pre- 
vailed over the continent. Earnest students of such 
matters — Gallatin, Turner, Buschmann, Adam — have, 
however, demonstrated that three-fourths of the area of 
America, at its discovery, was controlled by tribes 
using dialects traceable to ten or a dozen primitive 
stems. The names of these, their geographical position 
in the sixteenth century, and, so far as it is safe to do 
so, their individual character, I shall briefly mention. 

Fringing the shores of the Northern Ocean from 
Mount St. Elias on the West to the Gulf of St. Law- 
rence on the east, rarely seen a hundred miles from the 
coast, were the Eskimos. 1 They occupy the inter- 
mediate geographical position between the races of the 
Old and New Worlds, and in physical appearance and 
mental traits have been in parts influenced by the 
former, but in language betray their near kinship to the 
latter. An amphibious race, born fishermen, in their 
buoyant skin kayaks they brave fearlessly the tem- 
pests, make long voyages, and merit the sobriquet 

1 The name Eskimo is from the Algonkin word Eskimantick, 
eaters of raw flesh. There is reason to believe that at one time 
they possessed the Atlantic coast considerably to the south. The 
Northmen, in the year 1000, found the natives of Vinland, possi- 
bly near Cape Cod, of the same race as they were familiar with in 
Labrador. They call them contemptuously Skralingar, chips, and 
describe them as numerous and short of stature (Eric Kothens Saga, 
in Mueller, Sagcenbibliothek, p. 214). It is curious that the tradi- 
tions of the Tuscaroras, who placed their arrival on the Virginian 
coast about 1300, spoke of the race they found there (called Tacci 
or Dogi) as eaters of raw flesh and ignorant of maize. (Lederer, 
Account of North Ameinm, in Harris, Voyages.) 



THE ATHAPASCANS. 



37 



bestowed upon them by Von Baer, " the Phenicians of 
the north." Contrary to what one might suppose, they 
are, amid their snows, a contented, light-hearted peo- 
ple, knowing no longing for a sunnier clime, given to 
song, music and merry tales. They are cunning handi- 
craftsmen to a degree, but withal wholly ingulfed in a 
sensuous existence. The desperate struggle for life 
engrosses them, and their mythology is comparatively 
barren. 

South of them, extending in a broad band across the 
continent from Hudson's Bay to the Pacific, and almost 
to the Great Lakes below, is the Athapascan stock. 
Its affiliated tribes rove far north to the mouth of the 
Mackenzie River, and wandering still more widely in 
an opposite direction along both declivities of the 
Rocky Mountains, people portions of the coast of Ore- 
gon south of the mouth of the Columbia, and spreading 
over the plains of New Mexico under the names of 
Apaches, Navaj os, and Lipans, almost reached the tropics 
at the delta of the Rio Grande del Norte, and on the 
shores of the Gulf of California. 

No wonder they deserted their fatherland and forgot 
it altogether, for it is a very terra damnata, whose 
wretched inhabitants are cut off alike from the harvest 
of the sea and the harvest of the soil. The profitable 
culture of maize does not extend beyond the fiftieth 
parallel of latitude, and less than seven degrees farther 
north the mean annual temperature everywhere east of 
the mountains sinks below the freezing point. 1 Agri- 
culture is impossible, and the only chance for life lies 
in the uncertain fortunes of the chase and the penurious 
gifts of an arctic flora. 

1 Eichardson, Arctic Expedition, p. 374. 



38 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS ON THE RED RACE. 

The denizens of these wilds are abject, slovenly, hope- 
lessly savage, " at the bottom of the scale of humanity 
in North America," says Dr. Richardson ; and their 
relatives who have wandered to the more genial climes 
of the south are as savage as they, as perversely hostile 
to a sedentary life, as gross and narrow in their moral 
notions. This wide-spread stock, scattered over forty- 
five degrees of latitude, covering thousands of square 
leagues, reaching from the Arctic Ocean to the confines 
of the ancient empire of the Montezumas, presents in 
all its subdivisions the same mental physiognomy and 
linguistic peculiarities. 1 

Best known to us of all the Indians are the Algonkins 
and Iroquois, who, at the time of the discovery, were 
the sole possessors of the region now embraced by 
Canada and the eastern United States north of the 
thirty-fifth parallel. The latter, under the names of 
the Five Nations, Hurons, Tuscaroras, Susquehannocks, 
Nottoways and others, occupied much of the soil from 
the St. Lawrence and Lake Ontario to the Roanoke, and 
the Cherokees, whose homes were in the secluded vales 
of East Tennessee, appear to have been one of their 
early offshoots. 2 They were a race of warriors, cour- 
ageous, cruel, unimaginative, but of rare political 

1 The late Professor W. W. Turner of Washington, and Professor 
Buschmann of Berlin, are the two scholars who have traced the 
boundaries of this widely dispersed family. The name is drawn 
from Lake Athapasca in British America. There is some affinity 
between the Otomi of Mexico and the Athapascan dialects. They 
are also known as the Dene or Tinne. 

2 The Cherokee tongue has a limited number of words in com- 
mon with the Iroquois, and its structural similarity is close. Their 
name is properly Atsalagi, and is that by which they call a person 
of their own people. 



THE ALOONKINS. 



39 



sagacity. They are more like ancient Romans than 
Indians, and are leading figures in the colonial wars. 

The Algonkins surrounded them on every side, occu- 
pying the rest of the region mentioned and running 
westward to the base of the Rocky Mountains, where 
one of their famous bands, the Blackfeet, still hunts 
over the valley of the Saskatchewan. They were more 
genial than the Iroquois, of milder manners and more 
vivid fancy, and were regarded by these with a curious 
mixture of respect and contempt. Some writer has 
connected this difference with their preference for the 
open prairie country in contrast to the endless and 
sombre forests where were the homes of the Iroquois. 1 

Their history abounds in great men, whose ambitious 
plans were foiled by the levity of their allies and their 
want of persistence. They it was who under King 
Philip fought the Puritan fathers ; who at the instiga- 
tion of Pontiac doomed to death every white trespasser 
on their soil ; who led by Tecumseh and Black Hawk 
gathered the clans of the forest and mountain for the 
last pitched battle of the races in the Mississippi valley. 
To them belonged the mild mannered Lenni Lenape, 
who little foreboded the hand of iron that grasped their 
own so softly under the elm tree of Shackamaxon, to 
them the restless Shawnee, the gypsy of the wilderness, 
the Chipeways of Lake Superior, and also to them the 
Indian girl Pocahontas, who in the legend averted from 
the head of the white man the blow which, rebounding, 
swept away her father and all his tribe. 

1 The term Algonkin may be a corruption of agomeegwin, people 
of the other shore. Algic, often used synonymously, is an adjective 
manufactured by Mr. Schoolcraft "from the words Alleghany and 
Atlantic" (Algic Researches, ii. p. 12). There is no occasion to 
accept it, as there is no objection to employing Algonkin both as 



40 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS OX THE RED RACE. 



Between their southernmost outposts and the Gulf 
Coast were a number of clans speaking dialects of the 
Chahta-Muskoki tongue, including the Choctaws, Chick- 
asaws, Upper and Lower Creeks and the Seminoles. 
Their common legend stated that long ago they entered 
this district from the west, and destroyed or allied 
themselves with its earlier occupants. Among these 
were the lichees and the Timucuas, the latter possessing 
the greater part of the peninsula of Florida when it was 
first explored by the Spanish and French colonists in 
the sixteenth century. 1 The Chahta-Muskoki dialects 
stretched from the Savannah and Tennessee Rivers to 
the Gulf Coast, and from the Mississippi to the Atlantic 
seaboard; but no trace of that tongue or of any other on 
the northern mainland existed on the Bahamas or the 
Antilles; nor, so far as is now known, did any linguistic 
stock of the West Indian Archipelago or South American 
continent locate a colony in Florida or the Gulf States. 

North of the Arkansas River on the right bank of the 
Mississippi, quite to its source, stretching over to Lake 
Michigan at Green Bay, and up the valley of the 
Missouri west to the mountains, resided the Dakotas, 
an erratic folk, averse to agriculture, but daring hunters 
and bold warriors, tall and strong of body. 2 Their 

substantive and adjective. Iroquois is a French compound of the 
native word hiro, I have said, and koue, an interjection of assent or 
applause, terms constantly heard in their councils. 

1 By a strange chance the language of the Timucuas has been 
preserved, though probably the last soul that could speak it died 
more than a century ago. Their high artistic capacity, as revealed 
in the collections of Clarence Moore and Frank H. dishing, lend to 
them especial interest. (Raoul de la Grasserie, Grammaire et 
Yocabulaire Timucua, ) 

2 Dakota, a native -word, means friends or allies. By the Bureau 
of American Ethnology the stock is called the "Siouan." 



THE AZTECS. 



41 



religious notions have been carefully studied, and as 
they are remarkably primitive and transparent, they 
will often be referred to. The Sioux and the Winne- 
bagoes are well known branches of this family. 

Some distant fragments of it, such as the Tuteloes of 
Virginia and the Catawbas of Carolina, were found east 
of the Alleghanies near the sea board, and the Biloxis 
on the Gulf Coast in Louisiana. 1 

We have seen that Dr. Richardson assigned to a 
portion of the Athapascas the lowest place among North 
American tribes ; but there are some in New Mexico 
who might contest the sad distinction, the Root Diggers, 
Comanches and others, members of the Snake or Sho- 
shonee family, scattered extensively northwest of 
Mexico. It has been said of a part of these that they 
are " nearer the brutes than probably any other portion 
of the human race on the face of the globe." 2 Their 
habits in some respects are more brutish than those of 
any brute, for there is no limit to man's moral descent 
or ascent, and the observer might well be excused for 
doubting whether such a stock ever had a history in the 
past, or the possibility of one in the future. Yet these 
debased creatures speak a related dialect, and partake 
in some measure of the same blood as the famous Aztec 
race, who founded the empire of Anahuac, and raised 
architectural monuments rivalling the most famous 
structures of the ancient w T orld. 3 

1 On these consult the excellent monograph of James Mooney, 
The Siouan Tribes of the East (Washington, 1894). 

2 Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1854, p. 209. Pro- 
fessor R. Virchow assigns to one of their skulls the very lowest 
position of any he had examined. Crania Ethnica Americana, 
Tafel xvi. 

3 According to Professor Buschmann Aztec is probably from iztac, 



42 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS ON THE RED RACE. 



This great family, the "Uto-Aztecan, vl whose language 
has been traced from Nicaragua to the Columbia 
River, and whose bold intellects and enterprising char- 
acter colored much of the civilization in this wide area, 
seems to have journeyed southward at some remote 
epoch from a centre between the Great Lakes and the 
Rocky Mountains. They peopled the Sierras of Sonora 
and controlled the land between the Pacific and the 
Gulf of Mexico. One of their small bands, the Toltecs, 
became invested in later legend with the halo of heroes 
and magicians, and were mythically represented as the 
founders of that civilization which it is probable they 
largely borrowed in germ from tribes in the south of 
Mexico. Such as it was, they readily assimilated and 
increased it, and their distant colonies in Nicaragua 
and Costa Rica carried it with them to these remote 
points. 

Of an older and higher civilization than the Nahuas 
were the Mayan tribes. At the discovery, their con- 
tiguous bands occupied all the soil of Yucatan and 

white, and Nahuatlacatl signifies those who speak the language 
Nahuatl, clear sounding, sonorous. The Abbe Brasseur (deBour- 
bourg), on the other hand, derives the latter from the Quiche 
nawalj intelligent, and adds the amazing information that this is 
identical with the English know all! ! (Hist du Mexique, etc., i. p. 
102). The Shoshonees when first known dwelt as far north as the 
head waters of the Missouri, and in the country now occupied by 
the Black Feet. Their language, which includes that of the 
Comanche, Wihinasht, Utah, and kindred bands, was first shown to 
have many and marked affinities with that of the Aztecs by Pro- 
fessor Buschmann in his great work, Ueber die Spiiren der Aztekischen 
Sprache im nordlichen Mexico und hdheren Amerikanischen Norden, p. 
648 (Berlin, 1854). 

1 Such is the general name I have proposed for it in my Ameri- 
can Race, p. 118 (Philadelphia, 1891). 



THE MAYAS. 



43 



most of that of Guatemala, Chiapas, Tabasco and 
Western Honduras. An outlying colony dwelt in the 
valley of the Rio Panuco north of Vera Cruz. They 
were the builders of the famous ruins of Palenque, 
Copan, Uxmal and Chichen Itza, as well as of hundreds 
less known but not less majestic cities, now hidden in 
the shades of the tropical forests. 

Their language is radically distinct from that of the 
Aztecs, but their calendar and a portion of their myth- 
ology are common property. They seem an ancient 
race of mild manners and considerable polish. Their 
own annals, preserved by means of their calendars and 
graphic methods, carry their history back nearly to the 
beginning of the Christian era. 1 

No American nation offers a more promising field for 
study. Their stone temples still bear testimony to 
their uncommon skill in the arts. A trustworthy tra- 
dition dates the close of the golden age of Yucatan a 
century anterior to its discovery by Europeans. Previ- 
ously it had been one kingdom, under one ruler, and 
prolonged peace had fostered the growth of the fine 
arts ; but when their capital Mayapan fell, internal dis- 
sensions ruined most of their cities. 

Very slight connection has been shown between the 
civilization of North and South America, and that 
only near the Isthmus of Panama. In the latter conti- 
nent it was confined to two totally foreign tribes, the 
Muyscas, whose empire, called that of the Zacs, was in 
the neighborhood of Bogota, and the Peruvians, who 
were divided into two primary divisions, the one the 
Quichuas, including the Incas and Aymaras, possessing 

1 The Maya Chronicles, Edited by D. G. Brinton (Philadelphia, 
1882). 



44 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS ON THE RED RACE. 

the Andean region, and the Yuncas of the coast. The 
former were the dominant tribe and extended their 
language and race along the highlands of the Cordil- 
leras from the Equator to the thirtieth degree of south 
latitude. Lake Titicaca seems to have been the cradle 
of their civilization, offering another example how 
inland seas and well-watered plains favor the change 
from a hunting to an agricultural life. 

These four nations, the Aztecs, the Mayas, the 
Muyscas and the Peruvians, developed spontaneously 
and independently under the laws of human progress 
what civilization was found among the red race. They 
owed nothing to Asiatic or European teachers. The 
Incas it was long supposed spoke a language of their 
own, and this has been thought evidence of foreign 
extraction; but Wilhelm von Humboldt has shown 
conclusively that it was but a dialect of the common 
tongue of their country. 1 

When Columbus first touched the island of Cuba, he 
was regaled with horrible stories of one-eyed monsters 
who dwelt on the other islands, but plundered indis- 
criminately on every hand. These turned out to be 
the notorious Caribs, whose other name Cannibals, has 

1 His opinion was founded on an analysis of fifteen words of the 
secret language of the Incas preserved in the Royal Commentaries 
of Garcilasso de la Vega. On examination, they all proved to be 
modified forms from the lengua general (Meyen, Ueber die Ureinbe- 
wohner von Peru, p. 6)» The Quichuas of Peru must not be con- 
founded with the Quiches, a Mayan tribe of Guatemala. Quiche is 
the name of a place, and means " many trees ;" the derivation of 
Quichua is unknown. Muyscas means "men." This nation also 
called themselves Chibchas. The most accurate studies of the 
tongues of ancient Peru are those of Dr. E. W. Middendorf 
(Leipzig, i890-1895). He includes the Quichua, Aymara and 
Yunca (or Chimu). 



CARIBS AND ARAWACKS. 



45 



descended as a common noun to our language, ex- 
pressive of one of their inhuman practices. These 
warlike robbers had extended their plundering voyages 
to Cuba and Haiti and permanently occupied some of 
the Lesser Antilles, but pointed for their home to the 
mainland of South America. This they possessed along 
the shore west of the mouth of the Orinoco nearly to the 
Cordilleras. Their original home was far to the South, 
and the most primitive dialects of their tongue are found 
to-day surviving in the highlands near the sources of 
the Kiver Plate. They won renown as bold fighters, 
daring navigators and skilled craftsmen ; but that they 
ever formed permanent settlements in any part of the 
northern continent is now not credited by careful 
students. 1 

Except the islands seized by these marauders the 
whole of the West Indian Archipelago at the arrival 
of Columbus was peopled by a branch of the Arawack 
stock. 2 They had at some remote time migrated from 
the mainland, the coast of which they then occupied 
between the mouths of the Orinoco and the Amazon. 
They have abundant affiliations in the southern conti- 
nent, and there are reasons to believe that their 
primitive home was in the Bolivian highlands, where 
we still meet representatives of their family. 

In the immense territory of the Amazon basin were 

1 The distribution of the Caribs has been especially studied by 
von den Steinen ( Unter den Naturvolkern Zentral-Brasiliens, Berlin, 
1894). He gives the meaning of "caraibe" as stranger, for- 
eigner, "not like us." Die Bakairi-Sprache, Vorwort (Leipzig, 
1892). 

2 The evidence for this will be found in my article, The Arawack 
Language of Guiana in its Linguistic and Ethnological Relations, in the 
Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, 1871. 



46 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS ON THE RED RACE. 

numerous tribes not yet clearly distinguished ; but the 
most prominent in history are the members of the 
Tupi stock. They dwelt on the Atlantic coast from 
the mouth of the Amazon to the Plate River and along 
the shore and tributaries of the former almost to the 
great Cordillera of the west. Their tongue has a com- 
paratively rich literature and is still known as the 
" general language," lingoa geral, of Brazil. Like their 
neighbors, the Arawacks, they had a moderately high 
development, carrying on some agriculture, building 
permanent villages and manufacturing excellent boats 
and graceful pottery. 1 

The immense forest-covered tract in the northern por- 
tion of the Argentine Republic called the Grand Chaco, 
the Great Hunting Ground, was peopled by roving 
tribes of still undetermined affinities ; while south of 
it the extensive grassy plains known as the Pampas 
were controlled by sparse population affined to the 
Araucanians of Chili, a warlike, freedom-loving race, 
unconquered for centuries by the white invaders. The 
inhospitable tracts of Patagonia and the Land of Fire 
were the abode of isolated groups, many of them in 
the lowest stages of culture and the utmost apparent 
wretchedness. 

There are many small tribes who seem to have no 
linguistic affinities with others, especially on the Pacific 
coast. The lack of inland water communication, the 
difficult nature of the soil, and perhaps the greater 
antiquity of the population there, seems to have 
isolated and split up beyond recognition the indi- 
genous families on that shore of the continent ; while 

1 Their geographic extension is shown in Lucien Adam's Gram- 
maire Comparee des dialectes de la Famille Tupi (Paris, 1896). 



MIGRATIONS. 



47 



the great river systems and broad plains of the Atlantic 
slope facilitated migration and intercommunication, 
and thus preserved national distinctions over thousands 
of square leagues. 1 

These natural features of the continent, compared 
with the actual distribution of languages, offer our 
only guides in forming an opinion as to the migrations 
of these various families in ancient times. Their tra- 
ditions, take even the most cultivated, are confused, 
contradictory, and in great part manifestly fabulous. 
To construct from them by means of daring combina- 
tions and forced interpretations a connected account of 
the race during the centuries preceding Columbus were 
with the aid of a vivid fancy an easy matter, but would 
be quite unworthy the name of history. The most 
that can be said with certainty is that the general 
course of migrations in both Americas was from the 
high latitudes toward the tropics, and from the great 
western chain of mountains toward the east. 

No reasonable doubt exists but that the Athapascas, 
Algonkins, Iroquois, Chahta-Muskokis and Nahuas all 
migrated from the north or west to the regions they 
occupied. In South America, curiously enough, the 
direction is largely reversed. The Caribs, the Ara- 
wacks and the Tupis, and perhaps we should add the 
Aymaras and the Quichuas (though their relationship 
is not wholly sure), according to both linguistic and 
legendary testimony, wandered forth from the steppes 
and valleys at the head waters of the Rio de la Plata 

1 The reader who desires a closer acquaintance with the linguis- 
tic stocks and various aboriginal tribes is referred to my work, The 
American Mace ; a Linguistic Classification and Ethnographic Descrip- 
tion of the Native Tribes of North and South America (pp. 392, New 
York, 1891). 



48 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS ON THE RED RACE. 

toward the Gulf of Mexico, where they came face to 
face with the other wave of migration surging down 
from high northern latitudes. For the banks of the 
river Paraguay and the steppes of the Bolivian Cordil- 
leras are unquestionably the earliest traditional homes 
of all these stocks. 

These movements took place not in large bodies 
under the stimulus of a settled purpose, but step by step, 
family by family, as the older hunting grounds became 
too thickly peopled. This fact hints unmistakably at 
the gray antiquity of the race. It were idle even to 
guess how great this must be, but it is possible to set 
limits to it in both directions. 

On the one hand, the laws of the evolution of the 
higher verterbrates offer no support to the idea that 
the species Man was developed on the American conti- 
nent. Its living and fossil fauna are alike devoid of 
high apes, of tailless monkeys, or those with thirty-two 
teeth; in the absence of which links we must accept 
man as an immigrant, not a native in the new world. 
Nor can we place his advent extremely remote. The 
persistent examination of the glacial moraines which 
date back to the close of the Ice Age, of the Equus 
beds west of the Mississippi and the megalonyx layers 
in the caves of the Alleghanies, of the undisturbed, 
auriferous gravels of the Pacific, and the Trenton and 
similar ancient gravels of the Atlantic slope, have re- 
sulted in seriously weakening the numerous alleged 
evidences of the presence of man at the dates of their 
deposit. No so-called lt palaeolithic " art, none older 
than or different from that of the modern red Indian, 
as we know him through the descriptions of the early 
travelers, has been established by evidence so clear as to 
be beyond grave doubt ; and the same may be said of 



CRANIO L OGY. 



49 



the similar supposed discoveries in other portions of 
the continent. 1 

The cranial forms of the American aborigines have 
by some been supposed to present anomalies distin- 
guishing their race from all others, and even its chief 
families from one another. This, too, falls to the 
ground before a rigid analysis. The last word of crani- 
ology, which at one time promised to revolutionize 
ethnology and even history, is that no one form of the 
skull is peculiar to the natives of the New World ; that 
in the same linguistic family one glides into another by 
imperceptible degrees ; and that there is as much diver- 
sity, and the same diversity, among them in this re- 
spect as among the races of the Old Continent. 2 Pecu- 
liarities of structure, though they may pass as general 
truths, offer no firm foundation whereon to construct 
a scientific ethnography. Anatomy shows nothing 
unique in the Indian, nothing demanding for its de- 

1 This appears at the present time (1896) to be the result of the 
investigations which for several years have been carried on by Mr. 
Thomas Wilson, Prof. F. W. Wright, C. C. Abbott and F. W. 
Putnam on the one side, and W. J. McGee, W. H. Holmes and 
Gerard Fowke on the other ; to mention only a few of those inter- 
ested in them. As for the South American evidences, advanced by 
F. Ameghino, Burmeister, Lovisato and others, they are too un- 
determinate to be convincing. Any day, however, unquestionable 
evidence of glacial or pre glacial man in America may be ex- 
humed. There is no reason why he should not have been on this 
continent that long ago. 

2 These conclusions, based at the time they were written (1867) 
on studies of the Morton collections of skulls in Philadelphia, 
confirmed by J. Aitken Meigs (Catalogue of Human Crania), are 
substantially those reached by Prof. Virchow in his Crania Ethnica 
Americana (Berlin, 1892) ; Avhose conclusions should be checked by 
the observations of Prof. G. Sergi, in his Le Varieta Umane, 1895. 

4 



50 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS ON THE RED RACE. 



velopment an antiquity beyond that of other races, 
still less an original diversity of species. 

On the other hand, the remains of primeval art and 
the impress he made upon nature bespeak for man a 
residence in the New World coeval with the most dis- 
tant events of history. By remains of art I do not so 
much refer to those desolate palaces which crumble 
forgotten in the gloom of tropical woods, nor even the 
enormous earthworks of the Mississippi valley covered 
with the mould of generations of forest trees, but rather 
to the humbler and less deceptive relics of his kitchens 
and his haunts. 

On the Atlantic coast one often sees the refuse of 
Indian villages, where generation after generation have 
passed their summers in fishing, and left the bones, 
shells and charcoal as their only epitaph. How many 
such summers would it require for one or two hundred 
people thus gradually to accumulate a mound of offal 
eight or ten feet high and a hundred yards across, as is 
common enough ? How many generations to heap up 
that at the mouth of the Altamaha River, examined 
and pronounced exclusively of this origin by Sir 
Charles Lyell, 1 which is about this height, and covers 
ten acres of ground ? 

Those who, like myself, have tramped over many a 
ploughed field in search of arrow-heads, must have 
sometimes been amazed at the numbers which are 
sown over the face of our country, betokening a most 
prolonged possession of the soil by their makers. For 
a hunting population is always sparse, and the collec- 
tor finds only those arrow-heads which lie upon the 
surface. Even a certain degree of civilization is most 



Second Visit to the United States, i. p. 252. 



ETHNO-BOTANY. 



51 



ancient ; for the evidences are abundant that the mines 
of California and Lake Superior were worked by tribes 
using metals at a very remote epoch. 

Still more forcibly does nature herself bear witness 
to this antiquity of possession. Botanists declare that 
a very lengthy course of cultivation is required so to 
alter the form of a plant that it can no longer be iden- 
tified with the wild species ; and still more protracted 
must be the artificial propagation for it to lose its 
power of independent life, and to rely wholly on man 
to preserve it from extinction. Now this is precisely 
the condition of the maize, tobacco, cotton, quinoa and 
mandioca plants, and of that species of palm called by 
botanists the Gulielma speciosa; all have been cultivated 
from immemorial time by the aborigines of America, 
and, except cotton, by no other race ; few of them can be 
positively identified with any known wild species; 
several are sure to perish unless fostered by human 
care. 

What numberless ages does this suggest? How 
many centuries elapsed ere man thought of cultivating 
Indian corn? How many more ere it had spread over 
nearly a hundred degrees of latitude, and lost all 
semblance to its original form ? Who has the temerity 
to answer these questions ? The judicious thinker will 
perceive in them satisfactory reasons for dropping once 
for all the vexed inquiry, " how America was peopled," 
and will smile at its imaginary solutions, whether they 
suggest Jews, Japanese, or, as some say, Egyptians. 1 

While these and other considerations testify forcibly 

1 The ethno-botany of America was studied by von Martius in 
his Beitrage zur Ethnographie und Sprachenkunde Amerikas, Bd. II. ; 
and has received productive attention later from J. W. Harsh- 
berger, J. W. Fewkes and others. 



52 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS ON THE RED RACE. 

to that isolation I have already mentioned, they are 
almost equally positive for an extensive intercourse in 
very distant ages between the great families of the race, 
and for a prevalent unity of mental type, or perhaps 
they hint at a still visible oneness of descent. In their 
stage of culture, the maize, cotton and tobacco could 
hardly have spread so widely by commerce alone; 
although the activity of primitive barter must be 
placed very high. There must have been also wide 
wanderings, distant colonization by war or in peace, 
carrying the arts of a tribe bodily into remote realms. 

We cannot overlook the unity of the physical type 
throughout the continent. The American race is physi- 
cally more homogeneous than any other on the globe. 
There is no mistaking a group of American Indians, 
whether they come from Chili or from Canada, from 
the shores of Hudson Bay or the banks of the Amazon. 
And this superficial resemblance is a correct indication 
of what a close anatomical study confirms. 

Then there are verbal similarities running through 
wide families of languages which, in the words of Pro- 
fessor Buschmann, are calculated " to fill us with be- 
wildering amazement," 1 some of which will hereafter 
be pointed out ; and lastly, passing to the psychologi- 
cal constitution of the race, we may quote the words of 
a sharp-sighted naturalist, whose monograph on one of 
its tribes is unsurpassed for profound reflections : " Not 
only do all the primitive inhabitants of America stand on 
one scale of related culture, but that mental condition of 
all in which humanity chiefly mirrors itself, to wit, 
their religious and moral consciousness, this source of 
all other inner and outer conditions, is one with all, 



1 Athapaskische Sprachstamm, p. 164 (Berlin, 1856). 



MYTHICAL PARALLELS. 



53 



however diverse the natural influences under which 
they live. m 

Penetrated with the truth of these views, all artificial 
divisions into tropical or temperate, civilized or bar- 
barous, will in the present work, so far as possible, be 
avoided, and the race will be studied as a unit, its re- 
ligion as the development of ideas common to all its 
members, and its myths as the garb thrown around 
these ideas by imaginations more or less fertile, but 
seeking everywhere to embody the same notions. 

In the pursuance of this study we shall discover 
similarities in the mythical concepts of the red race as 
striking as are its peculiar physical features, and not 
unfrequently not less singular analogies with the tropes 
and tales, the rituals and symbols, in which many a 
nation of the old world or of the distant islands of 
the east, chose as the appropriate forms under which to 
express their notions of the gods and their doings. 

The explanation of such parallels has exercised the 
minds of students of mythology and folk-lore. There 
are those who would see in them sufficient evidence of 
former contact and transference, while another school 
believes that unless there is precise proof of connec- 
tion in the tale itself or from other sources, it is more 
likely that the true explanation lies in the oneness of 
the human mind, the narrow limits in which it works 
in primitive conditions, and the almost fatal certainty 
with which it will seek the same concrete forms under 
which to convey a given abstract idea. 

We may indeed assume that a myth has been dif- 
fused from one source when it is found with marked 
peculiarities in nations in geographical contact ; when 

1 Marti us, Von dem Rechtzustande unter den Ureinwohnern Brasiliens, 
p. 77. 



54 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS ON THE RED RACE. 

the proper names it contains are the same in different 
versions, or obviously merely translations the one from 
the other ; where the features of one landscape and 
culture are retained in another and different horizon ; 
or where a tribe preserved the memory of the importa- 
tion of the tale or ritual from a foreign center. 

Thus, as Dr. Boas and Father Morice have pointed 
out, the tribes of the northwest coast as well as the 
Athabascan bands far inland, drew largely from some 
common source of mythological conception ; we know 
as a fact that the Eskimos and the Algonkins of Labra- 
dor " swapped stories " until the legendary lore of the 
one nation colored that of the other; the same has been 
shown by Von den Steinen and Ehrenreich of the tales 
of the Arawacks, Tupis and Caribs of South America ; 
and the evidence is incontrovertible that the peculiar 
divinatory calendar of Mexico and Central America 
with its mass of associated rite and myth was in use 
among tribes belonging to seven different linguistic 
stocks. 

These and similar examples testify amply to the 
transference of myths; but when writers would bring 
into prominence the mere external similarities of nar- 
ratives, no matter how minute these may seem, and on 
these -alone insist that there was an early historic con- 
nection between Yucatan and New Zealand, or between 
tribes of Hudson Bay and Syria, or of Mexico and an- 
cient Egypt, or those of the shores of the Amazon and the 
Siberian Lena — as has repeatedly been set forth and is 
still advocated by some — then the student of myths 
who follows the precepts of a sound anthropology will 
prefer the interpretation which in such recognizes 
merely psychological parallels, proofs of the unity of 
the soul of man, obliged or inclined to follow the same 



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE. 



55 



paths when setting forth on that quest which has for its 
goal the invisible world and the home of the gods. 1 

BIBLIOGEAPHICAL NOTE. 

As the subject of American mythology is an unfamiliar one to 
most readers, and as in its discussion everything depends on a 
careful selection of authorities, it is well at the outset to review 
briefly what has already been written upon it, and to assign the 
relative amount of weight that in the following pages will be given 
to the works most frequently quoted. The conclusions I have ar- 
rived at are at times different from those who have previously 
touched upon the topic, so such a step seems doubly advisable. 

The first who undertook a philosophical survey of American re- 
ligions was Dr. Samuel Farmer Jarvis, in 1819 (A Discourse on 
the Religion of the Indian Tribes of North America, Collections of 
the New York Historical Society, vol. iii., New York, 1821). He 
confined himself to the tribes north of Mexico, a difficult portion of 

1 The discussion of this vital question has been carried on of late 
years by Andrew Lang, J. Jacobs, E. S. Hartland, and others with 
reference to the myths and tales of the Old World ; and concerning 
those of America I would cite Franz Boas, Indianische Sagen von der 
Nord-Pacifischen Kiiste, and Jour. Airier. Folk-lore, March, 1891, and 
March, 1896 ; Emile Petitot, Accord des Mythologies ; Cyrus Thomas, 
in American Antiquarian; Kev. A. G. Mo rice, in Trans. Boy. Soc. 
Canada, 1892 ; C. G. Leland, The Algonquin Legends of New Eng- 
land, Introduction ; Von den Steinen, Die Naturvolker Zentral-Brasil- 
iens; P. Ehrenreich, Beitrdge zur Volkerkunde Brasiliens ; etc., etc. 
To infer from such similarities that they are the " relics of an 
ancient period of culture in Asia and Europe," as does Goeken in 
his essay on the religious life of the Bella Coola Indians (in Pro- 
ceedings of the Berlin Museum) is quite as unfounded as is the theory 
that from an enumeration of the "elements" or incidents in a 
story we can decide its relationship. Such " elements " arise inde- 
pendently, often in the same connection, owing to the uniformity 
of the action of the human mind under similar conditions and 
seeking the expression of similar ideas. This is the anthropologic 
principle so vigorously and ably defended by Professor A. Bastian, 
of Berlin, in his numerous and profound works. 



56 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS ON THE RED RACE. 



the field, and at that time not very well known. The notion of a 
state of primitive civilization prevented Dr. Jarvis from forming 
any correct estimate of the native religions, as it led him to look 
upon them as deteriorations from purer faiths instead of develop- 
ments. Thus he speaks of them as having "departed less than 
among any other nation from the form of primeval truth," and 
also mentions their " wonderful uniformity" (pp. 219, 221). 

The well-known American ethnologist, Mr. E. G. Squier, also 
published a work on the subject, of wider scope than its title 
indicated {The Serpent Symbol in America, New York, 1851). 
Though written in a much more liberal spirit than the preceding, 
it is in the interests of one school of mythology, and it the rather 
shallow physical one, so fashionable in Europe half a century ago. 
Thus, with a sweeping generalization, he says, "The religions or 
superstitions of the American nations, however different they may 
appear to the superficial glance, are rudimentally the same, and 
are only modifications of that primitive system which under its 
physical aspect has been denominated Sun or Eire worship" (p. 
111). With this he combines the doctrine, that the chief topic of 
mythology is the adoration of the generative power ; and to rescue 
such views from their materializing tendencies, imagines to coun- 
terbalance them a clear universal monotheism. "We claim to 
have shown," he says (p. 154), "that the grand conception of a 
Supreme Unity and the doctrine of the reciprocal principles ex- 
isted in America in a well-defined and clearly recognized form ; " 
and elsewhere that ' ' the monotheistic idea stands out clearly in 
all the religions of America" (p. 151). 

These are views which to-day probably have no defenders ; cer- 
tainly not among those who have made a study of the scientific 
analysis of primitive religions. 

The important work on the Indians edited by Mr. Henry K. School- 
craft (History, Condition and Prospects of the Indian Tribes of the United 
States, Washington, 1851-59) derives its chief or perhaps only 
value from the reports of original observers which it contains. 
The general views of aboriginal history and religion expressed by 
its editor are shallow and untrustworthy. 

A German professor, Dr. J. G. Miiller, about forty years ago, 
wrote quite a voluminous work on American primitive religions 
(Geschichte der Amerikanischen Ur-religionen, pp. 707 : Basel, 1855). 
His theory is that ' 1 at the south a worship of nature with the 



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE. 



57 



adoration of the sun as its centre, at the north a fear of spirits 
combined with fetichism, made up the two fundamental divisions 
of the religion of the red race" (pp. 89, 90). This imaginary 
antithesis he traces out between the Algonkian and Apalachian 
tribes, and between the "Toltecs" of Guatemala and the Aztecs of 
Mexico. His quotations are nearly all at second hand, and so 
little does he criticize his facts as to confuse the Vaudoux worship 
of the Negroes with that of Votan in Chiapa. While an indus- 
trious compilation, his volume must be used with constant caution. 

Very much better was the Anthropology of the late Dr. Theo- 
dore Waitz ( Anthropologic der Naturvozlker : Leipzig, 1862-66). No 
more comprehensive, sound and critical work on the indigenes of 
America as a whole has since been written. But on their relig- 
ions the author is unfortunately defective, being led astray by the 
hasty and groundless generalizations of others. His great anxiety, 
moreover, to subject all moral sciences to a realistic philosophy, 
was peculiarly fatal to any correct appreciation of religious growth, 
and here, therefore, his views are neither new nor tenable. 

It is unfortunate that we cannot praise the work in this depart- 
ment of the indefatigable and meritorious Abbe E. C. Brasseur 
(de Bourbourg). His fixed idea was to explain American myth- 
ology after the example of Euhemerus, of Thessaly, as the apo- 
theosis of history. This theory, which has been repeatedly 
applied to other mythologies with invariable failure, is now dis- 
owned by every distinguished student of European and Oriental 
antiquity ; and to seek to introduce it into American religions is 
simply to render them still more obscure and unattractive, and to 
deprive them of the only general interest they now have, that of 
illustrating the gradual development of the religious ideas of 
humanity. 

But while thus regretting the use he has made of them, all in- 
terested in American antiquity cannot too much thank this inde- 
fatigable explorer for the priceless materials he unearthed in 
the neglected libraries of Spain and Central America, and laid 
before the public. For the present purpose the most significant 
of these is the sacred national book of the Quiches, a tribe of 
Guatemala. This contains their legends, written in the original 
tongue, and transcribed by Father Francisco Ximenes about 1725. 
The manuscripts of this missionary were used early in the present 
century, by Don Felix Cabrera, but were supposed to be entirely 



58 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS ON THE BED RACE. 



lost even by the Abbe" Brasseur himself in 1850 (Lettre d M. le Due 
de Valmy, Mexique, Oct. 15, 1850). Made aware of their import- 
ance by the expressions of regret used in the Abbe's letters, Dr. 
C. Scherzer, in 1854, was fortunate enough to discover them in the 
library of the University of San Carlos in the City of Guatemala. 
The legends were in Quiche with a Spanish translation and scholia. 
The Spanish was copied by Dr. Scherzer and published in Vienna, 
in 1856, under the title Las Historias del Origen de los Indios de 
Guatemala, por el P. P. F. Francisco Ximenes. In 1855 the Abbe 
Brasseur took a copy of the original which he brought out at 
Paris in 1861, with a translation of his own, under the title Vuh 
Popol : Le Litre Sacre des Quiches et les Mythes de VAntiquite Ameri- 
caine. Internal evidence proves that these legends were written 
down by a converted native some time in the seventeenth century. 
They carry the national history back about two centuries, beyond 
which all is professedly mythical. Although both translations are 
colored by the peculiar views of their makers, and lacking in 
accuracy, this is one of the most valuable works on American 
mythology extant. 

Another authority of inestimable value was placed within the 
reach of scholars some years ago. This is the reprint of the Rela- 
tions de la Nouvelle France, containing the annual reports of the 
Jesuit missionaries among the Iroquois and Algonkins from and 
after 1611. 

The annual reports of the Bureau of Ethnology at Washington, 
which began to appear in 1881, contain a mass of material indis- 
pensable to the student of the myths of the Indians dwelling 
within the area of the United States. Though the contributions 
contained vary in merit with the faculties and opportunities of the 
observer for investigations of this nature, they all have solid 
value. Especially those by the late Rev. James Owen Dorsey may 
be mentioned as models of their kind. 

Canadian legends and tales have been diligently and accurately 
edited by the Abbe Petitot (Traditions Indiennes du Canada, 1888, 
etc.) ; those on the northwest coast by Dr. Franz Boas ; and at an 
earlier date those of the vanishing Californian tribes by Mr. 
Stephen Powers (Indian Tribes of California, 1877). 

On the mythology of Mexico and Central America, the compre- 
hensive work of H. H. Bancroft (The Native Races of the Pacific States, 
1875) is important for its encyclopaedic survey of the literature of 



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE. 



59 



the subject, but does not attempt a serious analysis of the religious 
concepts of the tribes. For this we must turn to the numerous 
essays of Professor Eduard Seler, of Berlin ; of Dr. P. Schellhas ; 
and of Alfredo Chavero in Mexico. 

Our understanding of Peruvian mythology has been greatly fur- 
thered by the collations and linguistic analyses of von Tschudi 
and Dr. Middendorf ; while the great stems of eastern South 
America, the Caribs, the Tupi-Guaranis and the Arawacks, have 
been fruitfully examined by Barbosa Rodriguez, von den Steinen, 
Paul Ehrenreich, Lafone Quevedo and others. 

Singularly few attempts have been made toward the philosophi- 
cal analysis of American religions, either in the whole or of any 
one tribe. Nearly all writers have confined themselves to collect- 
ing tales, or else have contented themselves with such superficiali- 
ties as "sun worship," "snake worship," etc. Major J. W. 
Powell's Mythology of the North American Indians (1881) aims at 
something broader, but is too brief to be satisfactory. Dr. Albert 
Seville's Origin and Growth of Religion as Illustrated by the Native Re- 
ligions of Mexico and Peru (Hibbart lectures, 1884), reveals but a 
second-hand acquaintance with those religions, and none what- 
ever with the languages in which they were couched. The Abbe* 
Petitot's Accord des Mythologies (Paris, 1890), based on American 
religions, measures all by a merely dogmatic standard. 

A mass of new material has been provided within the last score 
of years for the study of American mythology. Much of it offers 
the expression of religious thought genuinely aboriginal in char- 
acter ; but much is also obviously modified by contact with the 
whites and by the infiltration of ideas belonging to their intellec- 
tual horizon. 



60 



THE IDEA OF GOD. 



CHAPTER II. 

THE IDEA OF GOD. 

An intuition common to the species. — Words expressing it in 
American languages derived either from ideas of above in space, 
or of life manifested by breath. — Examples. — No conscious mono- 
theism, and but little idea of immateriality discoverable. — Still 
less any moral dualism of deities, the Great Good Spirit and the 
Great Bad Spirit being alike terms and notions of foreign im- 
portation. 

TF we accept the definition that mythology is the idea 
of God expressed in symbol, figure and narrative, 
and always struggling toward a clearer utterance, it is 
well not only to trace this idea in its very earliest em- 
bodiment in language, but also, for the sake of com- 
parison, to ask what is its latest and most approved 
expression. The reply to this is given us by Immanuel 
Kant. He has shown that our reason, dwelling on the 
facts of experience, constantly seeks the principles 
which connect them together, and only rests satisfied 
in the conviction that there is a highest and first prin- 
ciple which reconciles all their discrepancies and binds 
them into one. This he calls the Ideal of Reason. It 
must be true, for it is evolved from the laws of reason, 
our only test of truth. 

Furthermore, the sense of personality and the voice 
of conscience, analyzed to their sources, can only be 
explained by the assumption of an infinite personality 
and an absolute standard of right. Or, if to some all 
this appears but wire-drawn metaphysical subtlety, they 



NOTION OF DIVINITY. 



61 



are welcome to the definition of the realist, that the 
idea of God is the sum of those intelligent activities 
which the individual, reasoning from the analogy of 
his own actions, imagines to be behind and to bring 
about natural phenomena. If either of these be cor- 
rect, it were hard to conceive how any tribe or even 
any sane man could be without some notion of divinity. 

Certainly in America no instance of its absence has 
been discovered. Obscure, grotesque, unworthy it often 
was, but everywhere man was oppressed with a sensus 
numinis, a feeling that invisible, powerful agencies 
were at work around him, who, as they willed, could 
help or hurt him. In every heart was an altar to the 
Unknown God. 1 

Not that it was customary to attach any idea of 
unity to these unseen powers. The supposition that in 
ancient times and in very unenlightened conditions, 
before mythology had grown, a monotheism pre- 
vailed, which afterwards at various times was revived 
by reformers, is a belief that should have passed away 
when the delights of savage life and the praises of a 
state of nature ceased to be the themes of philosophers. 
We are speaking of a people little capable of abstrac- 
tion. The exhibitions of force in nature seemed to 
them the manifestations of that mysterious power felt 
by their self-consciousness ; to combine these various 
manifestations and recognize them as the operations of 
one personality, was a step not easily taken. Yet He 

♦ 

1 Of course, the reader of travels will often meet such expres- 
sions as that of Lovisato about the Yahgans of Tierra del Fuego — 
"Non hanno alcuna nozione di Dio, quindi nessuna religione," 
etc. (Appunti Etnografici sulla Terra del Fuoco, p. 32). These as- 
sertions may easily be corrected from the information of closer 
observers. 



62 



THE IDEA OF GOD. 



is not far from every one of us. " Whenever man 
thinks clearly, or feels deeply, he conceives God as 
self-conscious unity," says Carrier e, with admirable 
insight ; and elsewhere, " we have monotheism, not in 
contrast to polytheism, not clear to the thought, but in 
living intuition in the religious sentiment." 1 

Thus it was among the Indians. Therefore a word 
is usually found in their languages analogous to none 
in any European tongue, a word comprehending all 
manifestations of the unseen world, yet conveying no 
sense of personal unity. It has been rendered spirit, 
demon, God, devil, mystery, magic, but commonly and 
rather absurdly by the English and French, ' 'medi- 
cine." In the Algonkin dialects this word is manito 
and OH, in Iroquois otkon, in the Hidatsa hopa ; the 
Dakota has ivakan, the Aztec teotl, the Quichua huaca, 
and the Maya hi. 

They all express in its most general form the idea of 
the supernatural. And as in this word, supernatural, 
we see a transfer of a conception of place, and that it 
literally means that which is above the natural world, 
so in such as we can analyze of these vague and primi- 
tive terms the same trope appears discoverable. Wakan 
as an adverb means above, oki is but another orthog- 
raphy for oghee, and otkon seems allied to hetken, both of 
which have the same signification. 2 

1 Die Kunst im Zusammenhang der Culturentwickelung, i. pp. 50, 
252. 

2 On ivakan see Riggs, Dakota English Diet. s. v. and Rohrig, On 
the Language of the Dakota, Smithsonian Report, 1871. Another 
example may be added from the Guarani of South America, in 
which tupa means the supernatural, tupir to mount or ascend. 
The word hudka belongs both to Quichua and Aymara. It has 
been derived from huekey, to weep (Zarate), or from huaikow, to 



THE HIGHER POWERS. 



63 



The transfer is no mere figure of speech, but has its 
origin in the very texture of the human mind. The 
heavens, the upper regions, are in every religion the 
supposed abode of the divine. What is higher is al- 
ways the stronger and the nobler ; a superior is one who 
is better than we are, and therefore a chieftain in Algon- 
kin is called oghee-ma, the higher one. 

There is, moreover, a naif and spontaneous instinct 
which leads man in his ecstasies of joy, and in his 
paroxysms of fear or pain, to lift his hands and eyes to 
the overhanging firmament. There the sun and bright 
stars sojourn, emblems of glory and stability. Its 
azure vault has a mysterious attraction which invites 
the eye to gaze longer and longer into its infinite 
depths. 1 Its deep color brings thoughts of serenity, 
peace, sunshine and warmth. Even the rudest hunt- 
ing tribes felt these sentiments, and as a metaphor in 
their speeches, and as a paint expressive of friendly 
design, blue was in wide use among them. 2 

So it came to pass that the idea of God was linked to 

dig a hole (von Tschudi) . With equal probability it may be from 
the same radical as huichay, to rise, to ascend. (Comp. Tschudi, 
Beitr'dge zur Kennt. des Alien Peru, p. 146 ; Middendorf, Keshua 
Worterbuch, p. 452.) 

1 A distinguished authority, M. Cuoq, has denied that oki is 
Algonkian and that okima is derived from oki in the sense of 
above. The former belongs to the southern dialects and certainly 
is from Lenape wochki, at the top or above ; and as certainly okima 
has the derivation I assign it. Comp. Cuoq, Lezique de la Langue 
Iroquoise, p. 176; Brinton and Anthony, Lendpe-English Dic- 
tionary, p. 166, and Baraga, Otchipwe Diet,, p. 315. Trumbull de- 
rives Manito from a verb anit, to surpass, to be greater than. 
Roger Williams, Language of America, p. 147, note. 

2 Loskiel, Oeschichte der Mission der Evang. Brueder, p. 63 
(Barby, 1789). 



64 



THE IDEA OF GOD. 



the heavens long ere man asked himself, are the 
heavens material and God spiritual, is He one, or is He 
many ? Numerous languages bear trace of this. The 
Latin Deus ; the Greek Zeus, the Sanscrit Dyaus, the 
Chinese Tien, all originally refer to the sky above, and 
our own word heaven is often employed synonymously 
with God. 

There is at first no personification in these expres- 
sions. They embrace all unseen agencies, they are 
void of personality, and yet to the illogical primitive 
man there is nothing contradictory in making them the 
object of his prayers. The Mayas had legions of Gods ; 
" ku," says their historian, 1 " does not signify any par- 
ticular god ; yet their prayers are sometimes addressed 
to hue^ which is the same word in the vocative case. 

As the Latins called their united divinities Superi, 
those above, so Captain John Smith found that the 
Powhatans of Virginia employed the word oJci, above, 
in the same sense, and it even had passed into a definite 
personification among them in the shape of an " idol 
of wood evil-favoredly carved." In purer dialects of the 
Algonkin it is always indefinite, as in the terms nipoon 
oJci, spirit of summer, pipoon ohi, spirit of winter. Per- 
haps the word was introduced into Iroquois by the 
Hurons, neighbors and associates of the Algonkins. 
The Hurons applied it to that demoniac power " who 
rules the seasons of the year, who holds the winds and 
the waves in leash, who can give fortune to their un- 
dertakings, and relieve all their wants." 2 

In another and far distant branch of the Iroquois, 
the Nottoways of southern Virginia, it reappears under 

1 Cogolludo, Uistoria de Yucathan, lib. iv. cap. vii. 

2 Bel. de la Nouv. France. An 1636, p. 107. 



THE HEAVENLY FATHER. 



65 



the curious form quaker, doubtless a corruption of the 
Powhatan qui-oki, lesser gods. 1 The proper Iroquois 
name of him to whom they prayed was garonhia, 
which again turns out on examination to be their 
common word for sky, and again in all probability 
from the verbal root gar, to be above. 2 The Californian 
tribes spoke of their chief deity as " The Old Man 
above " 3 reminding us of " Der Alte im Himmel " of 
Mephistopheles ; and the Creek term for their Jove is 
" He who lives in the sky." 4 In the legends of the 
Aztecs and Quiches such phrases as " Heart of the 
Sky," " Lord of the Sky," " Prince of the Azure Plan- 
isphere," " He above all," are of frequent occurrence; 
and by a still bolder metaphor, the Araucanians, ac- 
cording to Molina, entitled their greatest god " The 
Soul of the Sky." 

This last expression leads to another train of thought. 
As the philosopher, pondering on the workings of self- 
consciousness, recognizes that various pathways lead 
up to God, so the primitive man, in forming his lan- 
guage, sometimes trod one, sometimes another. What- 
ever else skeptics have questioned, no one has yet pre- 

1 This word is found in Gallatin's vocabularies {Transactions of 
the Am. Antiq. Soc, vol. ii.), and may have partially induced that 
distinguished ethnologist to ascribe, as he does in more than one 
place, whatever notions the eastern tribes had of a Supreme Being 
to the teachings of the Quakers. 

2 Bruyas, Radices Verborum Iroquozorum, p. 84. This work is in 
Shea's Library of American Linguistics, and is a most valuable 
contribution to philology. The same etymology is given by 
Lafitau, Mceurs des Sauvages, etc., p. 65. Cuoq. Lezique Iroquoise, p. 
106. 

3 H. H. Bancroft, Native Races of the Pacific States, vol. III., p. 158. 

4 A. T. Gatschet, Migration Legend of the Creeks, vol. I., p. 216. 
I may add the Choctaw, yuba paiJc, " Our Father Above." 

5 



66 



THE IDEA OF GOD. 



sumed to doubt that if a God and a soul exist at all, 
they are of like essence. 

This firm belief has left its impress on language in 
the names devised to express the supernal, the spirit- 
ual world. If we seek hints from idioms more familiar 
to us than the tongues of the Indians, and take for ex- 
ample this word spiritual, we find it is from the Latin 
spirare, to blow, to breathe. If in Latin again we look 
for the derivation of animus, the mind, anima, the soul, 
they point to the Greek anemos, wind, and aemi, to 
blow. In Greek the words for soul or spirit, psuche s 
pneuma, tkumos, all are directly from verbal roots ex- 
pressing the motion of the wind or the breath. The 
Hebrew word ruah is translated in the Old Testament 
sometimes by wind, sometimes by spirit, sometimes by 
breath. The Egyptian Jcneph is another example. 

Etymologically, in fact, ghosts and gusts, breaths and 
breezes, the Great Spirit and the Great Wind, are one 
and the same. It is easy to guess the reason of this. 
The soul is the life, the life is the breath. Invisible, 
imponderable, quickening with vigorous motion, slack- 
ening in rest and sleep, passing quite away in death, it 
is the most obvious sign of life. All nations grasped 
the analogy and identified the one with the other. But 
the breath is nothing but wind. How easy, therefore, 
to look upon the wind that moves up and down and to 
and fro upon the earth, that carries the clouds, itself 
unseen, that calls forth the terrible tempests and the 
various seasons, as the breath, the spirit of God, as 
God himself? So in the Mosaic record of creation, it 
is said " a mighty wind" passed over the formless sea 
and brought forth the world, and when the Almighty 
gave to the clay a living soul, he is said to have 
breathed into it " the wind of lives." 



LIFE AND BREATH. 



67 



Armed with these analogies, we turn to the primi- 
tive tongues of America, and find them there as dis- 
tinct as in the Old World. In Dakota niya is literally 
breath, figuratively life; Elliott in his translation of 
the Bible into the Massachusetts tongue renders soul by 
nashanonk, a breathing ; in Netela pints is life, breath, 
and soul ; silla, in Eskimo, means air, it means wind, 
but it is also the word that conveys the highest idea of 
the world as a whole, and the reasoning faculty. The 
supreme existence they call Sillam Innua, Owner of the 
Air, or of the All ; or Sillam Nelega, Lord of the Air or 
Wind. In the Yakama tongue of Oregon whrisha signi- 
fies there is wind, wkrishwit life; with the Aztecs, ehecaU 
expressed both air, life, and the soul, and person- 
ified in their myths it was said to have been born 
of the breath of Tezcatlipoca, their highest divinity, 
who is himself often called Yoalli ehecatl, the Wind of 
Night. 1 

The descent is, indeed, almost perceptible which 
leads to the personification of the wind as God, which 
merges this manifestation of life and power in one 
with its unseen, unknown cause. Thus it was a worthy 
epithet which the Creeks applied to their supreme in- 
vincible ruler, when they addressed him as Esaugetuh 
Emissee, Master of Breath, 2 and doubtless it was at first 
but a title of equivalent purport which the Cherokees, 

1 My authorities are Riggs, Diet, of the Dakota, Boscana, Account 
of New California, Richardson's and Egede's Eskimo Vocabularies, 
Pandosy, Gram, and Diet, of the Yakama (Shea's Lib. of Am. Lin- 
guistics), and Molina for the Aztec. 

2 Properly, isakita immissi, 1 ' He who carries the life or breath 
for others. " A. S. Gatschet, Migration Legend of the Creeks, vol. I. , 
p. 216. "This conception," adds that writer, "is as thoroughly 
North American as Jahve is Semitic. ' ' 



68 



THE IDEA OF GOD. 



their neighbors, were wont to employ, Oonawleh unggi, 
Eldest of Winds, but rapidly leading to a complete 
identification of the divine with the natural pheno- 
mena of meteorology. This seems to have taken place 
in the same group of nations, for the original Choctaw 
word for Deity was Hushtoli, the Storm Wind. 1 

The idea, indeed, was constantly being lost in the 
symbol. In the legends of the Quiches, the mysterious 
creative power is Hurakan, a name of no appropriate- 
ness in their language, one which was perhaps brought 
them from the Antilles, which finds its meaning in the 
ancient tongue of Haiti, and which, under the forms 
of hurricane, ouragan, orkan, was adopted into European 
marine languages as the native name of the terrible 
tornado of the Carribean Sea. 2 

Mixcohuatl, the Cloud Serpent, chief divinity of 
several tribes in ancient Mexico, is to this day the cor- 
rect term in their language for the tropical whirlwind, 

1 These terms are found in Gallatin's vocabularies. The last 
mentioned is not, as Adair thought, derived from issto ulla or 
ishto hoollo, great man, for in Choctaw the adjective cannot precede 
the noun it qualifies. Its true sense is visible in the analogous 
Creek word holvle, the storm wind. 

2 Webster derives hurricane from the Latin fv,rio. But Oviedo 
tells us in his description of Hispaniola that ' 1 Hurakan, in lingua 
di questa isola vuole dire propriamente fortuna tempestuosa molto 
eccessiva, perche en effetto non e altro que un grandissimo vento e 
pioggia insieme." Historiadel V Indie, lib. vi. cap. iii. The name 
Hurakan in the Quiche myths is translated "One-leg" by Father 
Ximenes, which seems to have no meaning. The Dictionarium 
Galibi, Paris, 1763, gives the forms iroucan and hyorocan. The 
presence of the same word with the same meaning over such an ex- 
tent of territory occupied by different stocks is puzzling. The 
Carib form appears to be from yeHo, thunder, lightning, whence 
Island -Carib, zouallou (von den Steinen, Die Bakairi Sprache, p. 30). 



TEE GREAT SPIRIT. 



69 



and the natives of Panama worshipped the same 
phenomenon under the name Tuyra. 1 To kiss the air 
was in Peru the commonest and simplest sign of ador- 
ation to the collective divinities. 2 

Many writers on mythology have commented on the 
prominence so frequently given to the winds. None 
has traced it to its true source. The facts of meteor- 
ology have been thought all sufficient for a solution. 
As if man ever did or ever could draw the idea of God 
from nature ! In the identity of wind with breath, of 
breath with life, of life with soul, of soul with God, 
lies the far deeper and far truer reason, whose insensi- 
ble development I have here traced, in outline, indeed, 
but confirmed by the evidence of language itself. 

Let none of these expressions, however, be construed 
to prove the distinct recognition of one Supreme Being. 
Of monotheism either as displayed in the one personal 
definite God of the Semitic races, or in the pantheistic 
sense of the Brahmins, there was not a single instance 
on the American continent. The missionaries found 
no word in any of their languages fit to interpret Deus, 
God. 

How could they expect it? The associations we at- 
tach to that name are the accumulated fruits of nigh 
two thousand years of Christianity. The phrases Good 
Spirit, Great Spirit, and similar ones, have occasioned 
endless discrepancies in the minds of travelers. In 
most instances they are entirely of modern origin, 
coined at the suggestion of missionaries, applied to the 
white man's God. Very rarely do they bring any con- 
ception of personality to the native mind, very rarely 

1 Oviedo, Rel. de la Prov. de Cueba, p. 141, ed. Ternaux-Compans. 
3 Garcia, Origen de los Indios, lib. iv. cap. xxii. 



70 



THE IDEA OF GOD. 



do they signify any object of worship, perhaps never 
did in the olden times. 

The Jesuit Relations state positively that there was 
no, one immaterial god recognized by the Algonkin 
tribes, and that the title, the Great Manito, was intro- 
duced first by themselves in its personal sense. 1 The 
supreme Iroquois Deity Neo or Hawaneu, triumph- 
antly adduced by many writers to show the monotheism 
underlying the native creeds, and upon whose name 
Mr. Schoolcraft has built some philological reveries, 
turns out on closer scrutiny to be the result of Chris- 
tian instruction, and the words themselves to be cor- 
ruptions of the French Dieu and le bon Dieu P 

Innumerable mysterious forces are in activity around 
the child of nature ; he feels within him something 
that tells him they are not of his kind, and yet not al- 
together different from him ; he sums them up in one 
word drawn from sensuous experience. Does he wish 
to express still more forcibly this sentiment, he doubles 
the word, or prefixes an adjective, or adds an affix, as 
the genius of his language may dictate. But it still 
remains to him but an unapplied abstraction, a mere 
category of thought, a frame for the All. It is never 
the object of veneration or sacrifice, no myth brings it 
down to his comprehension, it is not installed in his 
temples. 

1 See the Bel. de la Nouv. France pour V An 1637, p. 49. 

2 Mr. Morgan, in his excellent work, The League of the Iroquois, 
has been led astray by an ignorance of the etymology of these 
terms. For Schoolcraft's views see his Oneota, p. 147. The mat- 
ter is ably discussed in the Etudes Philologiques sur Quelques Lan- 
gues Sauvages deV Amerique, p. 14 : and comp. Shea, Diet. Francais- 
Onontague, Preface. Mr. J. N. B. Hewitt offers a less probable 
etymology, " Great Voice," referring to the thunder. Proc. Am. 
Assoc. Adv. Science, 1895, p. 250. 



UNCONSCIOUS MONOTHEISM. 



71 



Man cannot escape the belief that behind all form is 
one essence ; but the moment he would seize and de- 
fine it, it eludes his grasp, and by a sorcery more sadly 
ludicrous than that which blinded Titania, he worships 
not the Infinite he thinks, but a base idol of his own 
making. As in the Zend Avesta behind the eternal 
struggle of Ormuzd and Ahriman looms up the undis- 
turbed and infinite Zeruana Akerana ; as in the pages 
of the Greek poets we here and there catch glimpses of 
a Zeus who is not he throned on Olympus, nor he 
who takes part in the wrangles of the gods, but stands 
far off and alone, one yet all, " who was, who is, who 
will be so the belief in an Unseen Spirit, who asks 
neither supplication nor sacrifice, who, as the natives 
of Texas told Joutel in 1684, " does not concern him- 
self about things here below," 1 who has no name to 
call him by, and is never a figure in mythology, was 
doubtless occasionally present to their minds. 

It was present not more but far less distinctly and 
often not at all in the more savage tribes, and no as- 
sertion can be more contrary to the laws of religious 
progress than that which pretends that a purer and 
more monotheistic religion exists among nations de- 
void of mythology. There are only two instances on 
the American continent where the worship of an im- 
material God was definitely instituted, and these as the 
highest conquests of American natural religions de- 
serve especial mention. 

They occurred, as we might expect, in the two most 
civilized nations, the Quichuas of Peru, and the Na- 
huas of Tezcuco. It is related that about the year 

1 " Qui ne prend aucun soin des choses icy bas." Jour. Hist. oVun 
Voyage de V Amerique, p. 225 (Paris, 1713). 



72 



THE IDEA OF GOD. 



1440, at a grand religious council held at the conse- 
cration of the newly-built temple of the Sun at Cuzco, 
the Inca Yupanqui rose before the assembled multi- 
tude, and spoke somewhat as follows : 

" Many say that the Sun is the Maker of all things. 
But he who makes should abide by what he has made. 
Now many things happen when the Sun is absent ; 
therefore he cannot be the universal creator. And that 
he is alive at all is doubtful, for his trips do not tire 
him. Were he a living thing, he would grow weary 
like ourselves ; were he free, he would visit 'other parts 
of the heavens. He is like a tethered beast who makes 
a daily round under the eye of a master; he is like an 
arrow, which must go whither it is sent, not whither it 
wishes. I tell you that he, our Father and Master the 
Sun, must have a lord and master more powerful than 
himself, who constrains him to his daily circuit without 
pause or rest." 1 

To express this greatest of all existences, a name was 
proclaimed, based upon that of the highest divinities 
known to the ancient Inca race, Illatici Viracocha Pa- 
chacamac, literally, " the thunder vase, the foam of the 
sea, animating the world," — mysterious and symbolic 
names drawn from the deepest religious instincts of the 
soul, whose hidden meanings will be unravelled here- 
after. A temple was constructed in a vale by the sea 
near Callao, wherein his worship was to be conducted 

1 In attributing this speech to the Inca Yupanqui, I have fol- 
lowed Balboa, who expressly says this was the general opinion of 
the Indians {Hist, du Perou, p. 62, ed. Ternaux-Compans). Others 
assign it to other Incas. See Garcilasso de la Vega, Hist, des Incas, 
lib. viii., chap. 8, and Acosta, Nat. and M&rall Hist, of the New 
World, chap. 5. The fact and the approximate time are beyond 
question. 



NATIVE MONO THEISTS. 



73 



without images or human sacrifices. The Inca was 
ahead of his age, however, and when the Spaniards 
visited the temple of Pachacamac in 1525, they found 
not only the walls adorned with hideous paintings, but 
an ugly idol of wood representing a man of colossal 
proportions set up therein, and receiving the prayers 
of the votaries. 1 

No better success attended the attempt of Neza- 
huatl, lord of Tezcuco, which took place about the 
same time. He had long prayed to the gods of his 
forefathers for a son to inherit his kingdom, and the 
altars had smoked vainly with the blood of slaughtered 
victims. At length, in indignation and despair, the 
prince exclaimed, " Verily, these gods that I am ador- 
ing, what are they but idols of stone without speech or 
feeling ? They could not have made the beauty of the 
heaven, the sun, the moon, and the stars which adorn 
it, and which light the earth, with its countless streams, 
its fountains and waters, its trees and plants, and its 
various inhabitants. There must be some god, invisible 
and unknown, who is the universal creator. He alone 
can console me in my affliction and take away my sor- 
row." 

Strengthened in this conviction by a timely fulfil- 
ment of his heart's desire, he erected a temple nine 
stories high to represent the nine heavens, which he 
dedicated " to the Unknown God, the Cause of Causes." 
This temple, he ordained, should never be polluted by 
blood, nor should any graven image ever be set up 
within its precincts. 2 

In neither case, be it observed, was any attempt made 

1 Xeres, Rel. de la Conq. duPerou, p. 151, ed. Ternaux-Compans. 

2 Prescott, Conq. of Mexico, i. pp. 192, 193, on the authority of 
Ixtlilxochitl. 



74 



THE IDEA OF GOD. 



to substitute another and purer religion for the popular 
one. The Inca continued to receive the homage of his 
subjects as a brother of the sun, and the regular ser- 
vices to that luminary were never interrupted. Nor 
did the prince of Tezcuco afterwards neglect the honors 
due his national gods, nor even refrain himself from 
plunging the knife into the breasts of captives on the 
altar of the god of war. 1 They were but expressions 
of that monotheism which is ever present, " not in con- 
trast to polytheism, but in living intuition in the relig- 
ious sentiments. " 

If this subtle but true distinction be rightly under- 
stood, it will excite no surprise to find such epithets as 
" endless," u omnipotent," " invisible," " adorable," 
such appellations as " the Maker and Moulder of All," 
" the Mother and Father of Life," " the One God com- 
plete in perfection and unity," " the Creator of all that 
is," " the Soul of the World," in use and of undoubted 
indigenous origin not only among the civilized Aztecs, 
but even among the Haitians, the Araucanians, the 
Lenni Lenape, and others. 2 It will not seem contra- 

1 Brasseur, Hist, du Mexique, iii. p. 297, note. 

2 Of very many authorities that I have at hand, I shall only 
mention Heckewelder, Ace. of the Inds., p. 422, Duponceau, Mem. 
sur les Langues de V Amer. du Nord, p. 310, Peter Martyr De Rebus 
Oceanicis, Dec. i. , cap. 9, Molina, Hist of Chili, ii. p. 75, Ximenes, 
Origen de los Indios de Guatemala, pp. 4, 5, Ixtlilxochitl, Bel. des 
Cong, du Mexique, p. 2. These terms bear the severest scrutiny. 
The Aztec appellation of the Supreme Being Tloque nahuaque is 
compounded of the, together, with, and nahuac, at, by, with, with 
possessive forms added, giving the signification, Lord of all exist- 
ence and coexistence (alles Mitseyns und alles Beiseyns, bei wel- 
chem das Seyn aller Dinge ist. Buschmann, Ueber die Aztekischen 
Ortsnavien, p, 642). These terms are undoubtedly of native origin. 
In the Quiche legends the Supreme Being is called Bitol, the sub- 



GOOD AND BAD SPIRITS. 



75 



dictory to hear of them in a purely polytheistic wor- 
ship ; we shall be far from regarding them as familiar 
to the popular mind, and we shall never be led so far 
astray as to adduce them in evidence of a monotheism 
in either technical sense of that word. 

In point of fact they were not applied to any par- 
ticular god even in the most enlightened nations, but 
were terms of laudation and magniloquence used by 
the priests and devotees of every several god to do 
him honor. They prove something in regard to a con- 
sciousness of divinity hedging us about, but nothing 
at all in favor of a recognition of one God ; they exem- 
plify how profound is the conviction of a highest and 
first principle, but they do not offer the least reason 
to surmise that this was a living reality in doctrine or 
practice. 

The confusion of these distinct ideas has led to much 
misconception of the native creeds. But another and 
more fatal error was that which distorted them into a 
dualistic form, ranging on one hand the good spirit 
with his legions of angels, on the other the evil one 
with his swarms of fiends, representing the world as 
the scene of their unending conflict, man as the un- 
lucky football who gets all the blows. 

This notion, which has its historical origin among 
the Parsees of ancient Iran, is unknown to savage na- 

stantive form of bit, to make, to form, and Tzakol, substantive 
form of tzak, to build, the Creator, the Constructor. The Ara- 
wacks, of Guyana, applied the term Aluberi to their highest con- 
ception of a first cause, from the verbal form alin, he who makes 
(Martins, Ethnographic und Sprachcnkunde Amerikas, i. p. 696). 
The Minnetarees interpret the name of their deity Itsikamahidis 
as "He who first made" (W. Matthews, Grammar of the Hidatsa, 
p. xxi.). 



76 



THE IDEA OF GOD. 



tions. "The Hidatsa," says Dr. Matthews, "believe 
neither in a hell nor a devil." 1 ''The idea of the 
Devil," justly observes Jacob Grimm, "is foreign to 
all primitive religions." Yet Professor Mueller, in his 
voluminous work on those of America, after approv- 
ingly quoting this saying, complacently proceeds to 
classify the deities as good or bad spirits ! 2 

This view, which has obtained without question in 
earlier works on the native religions of America, has 
arisen partly from habits of thought difficult to break, 
partly from mistranslations of native words, partly 
from the foolish axiom of the early missionaries, ' k The 
gods of the gentiles are devils." Yet their own writ- 
ings furnish conclusive proof that no such distinction 
existed out of their own fancies. The same word 
(otkori) which Father Bruyas employs to translate into 
Iroquois the term " devil," in the passage "the Devil 
took upon himself the figure of a serpent," he is obliged 
to use for "spirit" in the phrase, "at the resurrection 
we shall be spirits," 3 which is a rather amusing illus- 
tration how impossible it was by any native word to 
convey the idea of the spirit of evil. 

When, in 1570, Father Rogel commenced his labors 
among the tribes near the Savannah River, he told 
them that the deity they adored was a demon who 
loved all evil things, and they must hate him ; where- 
upon his auditors replied, that so far from this being 
the case, whom he called a wicked being was the power 

1 Grammar of the Hidatsa, p. xxii. " The idea that the Creeks 
knew anything of a devil/' remarks Mr. Gatschet, "is an inven- 
tion of the missionaries." Migration Legend of the Creeks, vol. i. 
p. 216. 

2 Geschichte der Amerikanischen Urreligionen, p. 403. 

3 Bruyas, Rod. Verb. Iroquxorum, p. 38. 



THE EVIL SPIBIT. 



77 



that sent them all good things, and indignantly left the 
missionary to preach to the winds. 1 

A passage often quoted in support of this mistaken 
view is one in Winslow's " Good News from New Eng- 
land," written in 1622. The author says that the In- 
dians worship a good power called Kiehtan, and 
another "who, as farre as wee can conceive, is the 
Devill," named Hobbamock, or Hobbamoqui. The 
former of these names is merely the word " great," in 
their dialect of Algonkin, with a final n, and is proba- 
bly an abbreviation of Kittanitowit, the great manito, 
a vague term mentioned by Roger Williams and other 
early writers, manufactured probably by them and not 
the appellation of any personified deity. 2 The latter, 
so far from corresponding to the power of evil, was, ac- 
cording to Winslow's own statement, the kindly god 
who cured diseases, aided them in the chase, and ap- 
peared to them in dreams as their protector. There- 
fore, with great justice, Dr. Jarvis has explained it to 
mean " the oke or tutelary deity which each Indian wor- 
ships," as the word itself signifies. 3 

So in many instances it turns out that what has been 
reported to be the evil divinity of a nation, to whom 
they pray to the neglect of a better one, is in reality the 
highest power they recognise. Thus Juripari, wor- 
shipped by certain tribes of Brazil, and said to be their 
wicked spirit, is in fact the name in their language for 

1 Alcazar, Chrono-historia de la Prov. de Toledo, Dec. iii., Afio 
viii., cap. iv. (Madrid, 1710). This rare work contains the only 
faithful copies of Father Eogel's letters extant. 

a It is analyzed by Duponceau, Langues de I'Amerique du Nord, 
p. 309. 

3 Discourse on the Religion of the Ind. Tribes of N. Am. , p. 252 in 
the Trans. N. Y. Hist. Soc. 



78 



THE IDEA OF GOD. 



supernatural in general ;* and Aka-kanet, sometimes 
mentioned as the father of evil in the mythology of 
the Araucanians, is the benign power appealed to by 
their priests, who is throned in the Pleiades, who sends 
fruits and flowers to the earth, and is addressed as 
"grandfather." 2 The Cupay of the Peruvians never 
was, as Prescott would have us believe, " the shadowy 
embodiment of evil," but simply and solely their god 
of the dead, the Pluto of their pantheon, corresponding 
to the Mictla of the Mexicans. 

The evidence on the point is indeed conclusive. The 
Jesuit missionaries very rarely distinguish between 
good and evil deities when speaking of the religion of 
the northern tribes ; and the Moravian Brethren among 
the Algonkins and Iroquois place on record their unani- 
mous testimony that " the idea of a devil, a prince of 
darkness, they first received in later times through the 
Europeans." 3 So the Cherokees, remarks an intelligent 
observer, "know nothing of the Evil One and his do- 
mains, except what they have learned from white 
men."* 

The term Great Spirit conveys, for instance, to the 

1 The radical may be the Tupi-Guarani jara, master. From 
him came both pleasant and unpleasant events. D'Evreux, His- 
toire du Marignan, p. 405. 

2 Mueller, Amer. Urreligionen, pp. 265, 272, 274. Well may he 
remark : " The dualism is not very striking among these tribes 
as a few pages previous he says of the Caribs, u The dualism of 
gods is anything but rigidly observed. The good gods do more 
evil than good. Fear is the ruling religious sentiment." To such 
a lame conclusion do these venerable preposessions lead. " Grau 
ist alle Theorie. " 

3 Loskiel, Oes. der Miss, der evang. Brueder, p. 46. 

4 Whipple, Report on the Ind. Tribes, p. 35 (Washington, 1855). 
Pacific Eailroad Docs. 



GOOD AND BAD GODS. 



79 



Chipeway just as much the idea of a bad as of a good 
spirit ; he is unaware of any distinction until it is ex- 
plained to him. 1 " I have never been able to discover 
from the Dakotas themselves," remarks the Rev. G. H. 
Pond, who had lived among them as a missionary for 
eighteen years, 2 " the least degree of evidence that they 
divide the gods into classes of good and evil, and am 
persuaded that those persons who represent them as 
doing so, do it inconsiderately, and because it is so 
natural to subscribe to a long-cherished popular opin- 
ion." 

Very soon after coming in contact with the whites, 
the Indians caught the notion of a bad and good spirit, 
pitted one against the other in eternal warfare, and en- 
grafted it on their ancient traditions. Writers anxious 
to discover Jewish or Christian analogies, forcibly con- 
strued myths to suit their pet theories, and for indolent 
observers it was convenient to catalogue their gods in 
antithetical classes. In Mexican and Peruvian mythol- 
ogy this is so plainly false that historians no longer in- 
sist upon it, but as a popular error it still holds its 
ground with reference to the more barbarous and less 
known tribes. 

Perhaps no myth has been so often quoted in its 
confirmation as that of the ancient Iroquois, which 
narrates the conflict between the first two brothers of 
our race. It is of undoubted native origin and vener- 
able antiquity. The version given by the Tuscarora 
chief Cusic in 1825, relates that in the beginning of 
things there were two brothers, Enigorio and Enigo- 
hahetgea, names literally meaning the Good Mind and 

1 Schoolcraft, Indian Tribes, i. p. 359. 

2 In Schoolcraft, Ibid., iv. p. 642. 



80 



THE IDEA OF GOD. 



the Bad Mind. 1 The former went about the world fur- 
nishing it with gentle streams, fertile plains and plen- 
teous fruits, while the latter maliciously followed him, 
creating rapids, thorns, and deserts. At length the 
Good Mind turned upon his brother in anger, and 
crushed him into the earth. He sank out of sight in 
its depths, but not to perish, for in the dark realms of 
the underworld he still lives, receiving the souls of the 
dead and being the author of all evil. 

Now when we compare this with the version of the 
same legend given by Father Brebeuf, missionary to 
the Hurons in 1636, we find its whole complexion 
altered ; the moral dualism vanishes ; the names Good 
Mind and Bad Mind do not appear ; it is the struggle 
of Ioskeha, the White one, with his brother Tawiscara, 
the Dark one, and we at once perceive that Christian 
influence in the course of two centuries had given the 
tale a meaning foreign to its original intent. 

So it is with the story the Algonkins tell of their 
hero Manibozho, who, in the opinion of a well-known 
writer, " is always placed in antagonism to a great ser- 
pent, a spirit of evil. " 2 It is to the effect that after 
conquering many animals, this famous magician tried 
his arts on the prince of serpents. After a prolonged 
struggle, which brought on the general deluge and the 
destruction of the world, he won the victory. 

The first authority we have for this narrative is even 
later than Cusic ; it is Mr. Schoolcraft in our own day ; 
the legendary cause of the deluge as related by Father 

1 Or more exactly, the Beautiful Spirit, the Ugly Spirit. In 
Onondaga the radicals are onigonra spirit, hio beautiful, ahetken 
ugly. Dictionnaire Francais-Onontague, edite par Jean-Marie Shea 
(New York, 1859). 

2 Squier, The Serpent Symbol in America. 



QUICHE MYTHS. 



81 



Le Jeune, in 1634, is quite dissimilar, and makes no 
mention of a serpent; and, as we shall hereafter see, 
neither among the Algonkins nor any other Indians, 
was the serpent usually a type of evil, but quite the 
reverse. 1 

The comparatively late introduction of such views 
into the native legends finds a remarkable proof in the 
myths of the Quiches, which were committed to writing 
in the seventeenth century. They narrate the struggles 
between the rulers of the upper and the nether world, 
the descent of the former into Xibalba, the Realm of 
Phantoms, and their victory over its lords, One Death 
and Seven Deaths. The writer adds of the latter, who 
clearly represent to his mind the Evil One and his 
adjutants, "in the old times they did not have much 
power; they were but annoyers and opposers of men, 
and, in truth, they were not regarded as gods. But 
when they appeared it was terrible. They were of evil, 
they were owls, fomenting trouble and discord." 

In this passage, which, be it said, seems to have im- 
pressed the translators very differently, the writer 
appears to compare the great power assigned by the 
Christian religion to Satan and his allies, with the 
very much less potency attributed to their analogues 
in heathendom, the rulers of the world of the dead. 2 

A little reflection will convince the most incredulous 
that any such dualism as has been fancied to exist in 
the native religions, could not have been of indigenous 

1 Both these legends will be analyzed in a subsequent chapter, 
and an attempt made not only to restore them their primitive 
form, but to explain their meaning. 

2 Compare the translation and remarks of Ximenes, Or. de los 
Indios de Guat., p. 76, with those of Brasseur, Le Livre Sacre des 
Quiches, p. 189. 

6 



82 



THE IDEA OF GOD. 



growth. The gods of the primitive man are beings of 
thoroughly human physiognomy, painted with colors 
furnished by intercourse with his fellows. These are 
his enemies or his friends, as he conciliates or insults 
them. No mere man, least of all a savage, is kind and 
benevolent in spite of neglect and injury, nor is any 
man causelessly and ceaselessly malicious. Personal, 
family, or national feuds render some more inimical 
than others, but always from a desire to guard their 
own interests, never out of a delight in evil for its 
own sake. 

Thus the cruel gods of death, disease, and danger, 
were never of Satanic nature, while the kindliest divin- 
ities were disposed to punish, and that severely, any 
neglect of their ceremonies. 

Moral dualism can only arise where the ideas of good 
and evil are not synonymous with those of pleasure 
and pain, for the conception of a wholly good or a 
wholly evil nature requires the use of these terms in 
their higher ethical sense. The various deities of the 
Indians, it may safely be said in conclusion, present no 
stronger antithesis in this respect than those of ancient 
Greece and Rome. Some gods favored man and others 
hurt him ; some, like the forces they embodied, were 
beneficent to him, others injurious. But no ethical 
contrast, beyond what this would imply, existed to the 
native mind. 



S ACRED NUMBERS. 



83 



CHAPTER III. 

THE SACRED NUMBER, ITS ORIGIN AND APPLICATIONS. 

The number Four sacred in all American religions, and the key to 
their symbolism. — Derived from the Cardinal, Points. — Ap- 
pears constantly in government, arts, rites, and myths. — The 
Cardinal points identified with the Four Winds, who in myths 
are the four ancestors of the human race, and the four celestial 
rivers watering the terrestrial Paradise. — Associations grouped 
around each Cardinal Point. — From the number four was derived 
the symbolic value of the number Forty, of the Sign of the Cross, 
the Sacred Tree, the ceremonial circuit and other symbols. 

EVERY one familiar with the ancient religions of 
the world must have noticed the mystic power 
they attach to certain numbers, and how these num- 
bers became the measures and formative quantities, 
as it were, of traditions and ceremonies, and had a 
symbolical meaning nowise connected with their arith- 
metical value. For instance, in many eastern religions, 
that of the Jews among the rest, seven was the most 
sacred number, and after it, four and three. The most 
cursory reader must have observed in how many con- 
nections the seven is used in the Hebrew Scriptures, 
occurring, in all, something over three hundred and 
sixty times, it is said. 

Why these numbers were chosen rather than others 
has not been clearly explained. Their sacred character 
dates beyond the earliest history, and must have been 
coeval with the first expressions of the religious senti- 



84 



THE SACRED NUMBER, ITS ORIGIN. 



ment, Their sacredness is so wide-spread, so nigh 
universal in all times and places, that any explanation, 
to be valid, must rest on some equally universal rela- 
tions either of man or of mind. I believe that such can 
be shown ; for the three, in the necessary processes of 
thought, in the syllogism, which proceeds by three 
mental operations; and for the four in certain obliga- 
tory relations of the individual to his environment, 
as I shall mention later. Through this explanation 
we perceive why the idea of the Trinity is so natu- 
ral to the mind, and of such frequent recurrence in 
religions. 1 

Only one of them, the four, has noteworthy promi- 
nence in the myths of the red race, but this is so 
marked and so universal, that at a very early period 
in my studies I felt convinced that if the reason for its 
adoption could be discovered, much of the apparent 
confusion which reigns in these myths would be dis- 
pelled. 

Such a reason must take its rise from some essential 
relation of man to nature, everywhere prominent, 
everywhere the same. It is found in the adoration of 
the cardinal points. 

The red man, as I have said, was a hunter ; he was 
ever wandering through pathless forests, coursing over 
boundless prairies. It seems to the white race not a 
faculty, but an instinct that guides him so unerringly. 
He is never at a loss. Says a writer who has deeply 
studied his character : " The Indian ever has the points 
of the compass present to his mind, and expresses him- 

1 I have expanded this theory in an article ' ' On the Origin of 
Sacred Numbers," in the American Anthropologist, for April, 1894; 
and comp. " Zahlen-Symbolik, " in Zeit. fur Volker-psychologie, 
Bd. xiv. 



THE CARDINAL POINTS. 



85 



self accordingly in words, although it shall be of mat- 
ters in his own house." 1 

The assumption of precisely four cardinal points is 
not of chance ; it is recognized in every language ; it is 
rendered essential by the anatomical structure of the 
body ; it is derived from the immutable laws of the 
universe. Whether we gaze at the sunset or the sunrise, 
or whether at night we look for guidance to the only star 
of the twinkling thousands that is constant to its place, 
the anterior and posterior planes of our bodies, our 
right hands and our left, coincide with the parallels and 
meridians. 

Very early in his history did man take note of these 
four points, and recognizing in them his guides through 
the night and the wilderness, call them his gods. Long 
afterwards, when centuries of slow progress had taught 
him other secrets of nature — when he had discerned in 
the motions of the sun, the elements of matter, and the 
radicals of arithmetic a repetition of this number — 
they were to him further warrants of its sacredness. 
He adopted it as a regulating quantity in his institutions 
and his arts ; he repeated it in its multiples and com- 
pounds ; he imagined for it novel applications ; he con- 
stantly magnified its mystic meaning ; and finally, in his 
philosophical reveries, he called it the key to the secrets 
of the universe, " the source of ever-flowing nature." 2 

1 Buckingham Smith, Gram. Notices of the Heve Language, p. 26 
(Shea's Lib. Am. Linguistics). Since I called attention to this 
in the first edition (1868) of this work, many writers have added 
facts in evidence of it from scores of American tribes. It should 
be noticed that in some instances the ceremonial north and south 
points are not those astronomically correct. (J. W. Fewkes, in 
Jour. Am. Folk-lore, 1892.) The same was true in ancient Babylon. 

2 I refer to the four ' l ultimate elementary particles" of Empe- 



86 THE SACRED NUMBER, ITS ORIGIN. 



In primitive geography the figure of the earth is a 
square plain ; in the legend of the Quiches it is " shaped 
as a square, divided into four parts, marked with lines, 
measured with cords, and suspended from the heavens 
by a cord to its four corners and its four sides." 1 The 
earliest divisions of territory were in conformity to this 
view. Thus it was with ancient Egypt, Syria, Mesopo- 
tamia, India and China f and in the new world, the 
states of Peru, Araucania, the Muyscas, the Quiches, 
Tlascala and Michoacan were tetrarchies divided in 
accordance with, and in the first two instances named 
after, the cardinal points. So their chief cities — Cuzco, 
Quito, Tezcuco, Tenochtitlan, Cholula — were quartered 
by streets running north, south, east, and west. 

It was a necessary result of such a division that the 
chief officers of the government were four in number, 
that the inhabitants of town and country, that the 
whole social organization acquired a quadruplicate 
form. The official title of the Incas was " Lord of the 
four quarters of the earth," and the venerable formality 
in taking possession of land, both in their domain and 
that of the Aztecs, was to throw a stone, to shoot an 
arrow, or to hurl a firebrand to each of the cardinal 

docles. The number was sacred to Hermes, and lay at the root of 
the physical philosophy of Pythagoras. The quotation in the text is 
from the ' 'Golden Verses, ' ' given in Passow's lexicon under the word 

rtrpaKTVg : vai p\a tov afisrepa ipvxa-Tra.pa.6ovT a rerpaKrvv^ rrayav asvaov (pvceu);. 

"The most sacred of all things," said this famous teacher, "is 
Number ; and next to it, that which gives Names ; " a truth that 
the lapse of three thousand years is just enabling us to appre- 
ciate. 

1 Ximenes, Or. de los Indios, etc., p. 5. 

2 See Sepp, Iieidenthum und dessen JBedeutung far das Christen- 
thum, i. p. 464 saq., a work full of learning, but written in the 
wild vein of Joseph de Maistre's school of Romanizing mythology. 



ORIENTATION. 



87 



points. 1 They carried out the idea in their architec- 
ture, building their palaces in squares with doors open- 
ing, their tombs with their angles pointing, their great 
causeways running in these directions. 

These architectural principles repeat themselves all 
over the continent; they recur in the sacred structures 
of Yucatan, in the ancient cemetery of Teo-tihuacan 
near Mexico, where the tombs are arranged along ave- 
nues corresponding exactly to the parallels and merid- 
ians of the central tumuli of the sun and moon ; 2 and 
however ignorant we are about the mound-builders of 
the Mississippi valley, we know that they constructed 
their earth -works with a constant regard to the quar- 
ters of the compass. 

Nothing can be more natural than to take into con- 
sideration the regions of the heavens in the construc- 
tion of buildings ; I presume that at any time no one 
plans an edifice of pretensions without doing so. Yet 
this is one of those apparently trifling transactions 
which in their origin and applications have exerted a 
controlling influence on the history of the human race. 3 

When we reflect how indissolubly the mind of the 
primitive man is welded to his superstitions, it were 
incredible that his social life and his architecture could 

1 Brasseur, Hist, du Mexique, ii. p. 227, Le Livre Sacre des 
Quiches, introd. p. ccxlii. The four provinces of Peru were Anti, 
Cunti, Chincha, and Colla. The meaning of these names has 
been lost, but to repeat them, says La Vega, was the same as to 
use our words, east, west, north, and south (Hist, des Incas, lib. 
ii. cap. 11). 

2 Humboldt, Polit. Essay on New Spain, ii. p. 44. 

3 Prof. Holmes ( Arch. Studies among the Ancient Cities of Mexico, 
p. 24, 1895) observes that in the valley of Mexico and in Oaxaca, 
the orientation of buildings was attended to with great care ; but 
less strictly in Yucatan. 



88 



TEE SACRED NUMBER, ITS ORIGIN. 



thus be as it were in subjection to one idea, and his 
rites and myths escape its sway. As one might expect, 
it reappears in these latter more vividly than anywhere 
else. If there is one formula more frequently men- 
tioned by travellers than another as an indispensable 
preliminary to all serious business, it is that of smok- 9 
ing, and the prescribed and traditional rule was that 
the first puff should be to the sky, and then one to each 
of the corners of the earth, or the cardinal points. 1 

These were the spirits who made and governed the 
earth, and under whatever difference of guise the un- 
cultivated fancy portrayed them, they were the leading 
figures in the tales and ceremonies of nearly every 
tribe of the red race. These were the divine powers 
summoned by the Chipeway magicians when initiating 
neophytes into the mysteries of the med a craft. They 
were asked to a lodge of four poles, to four stones that 
lay before its fire, there to remain four days, and attend 
four feasts. At every step of the proceeding this num- 
ber or its multiples w T ere repeated. 2 

With their neighbors the Dakotas the number was 
also distinctly sacred ; it was intimately inwoven in all 
their tales concerning the wakan power and the spirits 
of the air, and their religious rites. The artist Catlin 
has given a vivid description of the great annual festi- 
val of the Mandans, a Dakota tribe, and brings for- 
ward with emphasis the ceaseless reiteration of this 
number from first to last. 3 He did not detect its origin 

1 This custom has been often mentioned among the Iroquois, 
Algonkins, Dakotas, Creeks, Natchez, Araucanians, and other 
tribes. Nuttall points out its recurrence among the Tartars of 
Siberia also. {Travels, p. 175.) 

2 Schoolcraft, Indian Tribes, v. pp. 424 et seq. 

3 Letters on the North American Indians, vol. i., Letter 22. 



TEE HOLY FOUR. 



89 



in the veneration of the cardinal points, but the in- 
formation that has since been furnished of the myths 
of this stock leaves no doubt that such was the case. 1 

Proximity of place had no part in this similarity of 
rite. In the grand commemorative festival of the 
Creeks called the Busk, which wiped out the memory 
of all crimes but murder, which reconciled the pro- 
scribed criminal to his nation and atoned for his guilt, 
when the new fire was kindled and the green corn 
served up, every dance, every invocation, every cere- 
mony, was shaped and ruled by the application of the 
number four and its multiples in every imaginable re- 
lation. So it was at that solemn probation which the 
youth must undergo to prove himself worthy of the 
dignities of manhood and to ascertain his guardian 
spirit ; here again his fasts, his seclusions, his trials, 
were all laid down in fourfold arrangement. 2 

Not alone among these barbarous tribes were the 
cardinal points thus the foundation of the most solemn 
mysteries of religion. An excellent authority relates 
that the Aztecs of Micla, in Guatemala, celebrated their 
chief festival four times a year, and that four priests 
solemnized its rites. They commenced by invoking 
and offering incense to the sky and the four cardinal 

1 Schoolcraft, Indian Tribes, iv. p. 643 sq. "Four is their sacred 
number," says Mr. Pond (p. 646). Their neighbors, the Pawnees, 
though not the most remote affinity can be detected between their 
languages, coincide with them in this sacred number, and dis- 
tinctly identified it with the cardinal points. See De Smet, Oregon 
Missions, pp. 360, 361. 

2 Benj. Hawkins, Sketch of the Creek Country, pp. 75, 78 
(Savannah, 1848) The proper term is puskita, which means a 
fasting. It was also known to the English (Bartram, Adair, 
Milfort) as the " green corn dance." It was much more than a 
" rejoicing over the first fruits," as some have maintained. 



90 



THE SACRED NUMBER, ITS ORIGIN. 



points ; they conducted the human victim four times 
around the temple, then tore out his heart, and catch- 
ing the blood in four vases scattered it in the same 
directions. 1 

So also the Peruvians had four principal festivals 
annually, and at every new moon one of four days' 
duration. In fact the repetition of the number in all 
their religious ceremonies is so prominent that it has 
been a subject of comment by historians. They have 
attributed it to the knowledge of the solstices and 
equinoxes, but assuredly it is of more ancient date 
than this. 

The same explanation has been offered for its recur- 
rence among the Nahuas of Mexico, whose whole lives 
were subjected to its operation. At birth the mother 
was held unclean for four days, a fire was kindled and 
kept burning for a like length of time, at the baptism 
of the child an arrow was shot to each of the cardinal 
points. Their prayers were offered four times a day, 
their greatest festivals were every fourth year, and their 
offerings of blood were to the four points of the com- 
pass. At death food was placed on the grave, as among 
the Eskimos, Creeks and Algonkins, for four days (for 
all these nations and many others supposed that the 
journey to the land of souls was accomplished in that 
time), and mourning for the dead was for four months 
or four years. 2 

1 Palacios, Des. de la Prov. de Guatemala, pp. 31, 32, ed. 
Ternaux-Compans. 

2 All familiar with Mexican antiquity will recall many such 
examples. I may particularly refer to Kingsborough, Antiqs. of 
Mexico, v. p. 480, Ternaux-Compans' Recueil de pieces rel. ct la 
Conq. du Mexique, pp. 307, 310, and Gama, Des. de las dos Piedras 
que se hallaron en la plaza principal de Mexico, ii. sec. 126 (Mexico, 



THE FOUR SEASONS. 



91 



It were fatiguing and unnecessary to extend the cata- 
logue much further. Yet it is not nearly exhausted. 
From tribes of both continents and all stages of culture, 
the Muyscas of Columbia and the Natchez of Louisi- 
ana, the Quiches of Guatemala and the Caribs of the 
Orinoco, instance after instance might be marshalled 
to illustrate how universally a sacred character was 
attached to this number, and how uniformly it is trace- 
able to a veneration of the cardinal points. It is suf- 
ficient that it be displayed in some of its more unusual 
applications. 

It is well known that the calendar common to the 
Nahuas, Zapotecs and Maya divides the month into 
four weeks, each containing a like number of secular 
days ; that their indiction is divided into four periods ; 
and that they believed the world had passed through 
four cycles. It has not been sufficiently emphasized 
that in many of the picture writings these days of the 
week are placed respectively north, south, east, and 
west, and that in the Maya language the quarters of 
the indiction still bear the names of the cardinal points, 
hinting the reason of their adoption. 1 This cannot be 
fortuitous. 

Again, the division of the year into four seasons — 
a division as devoid of foundation in nature as that of 
the ancient Aryans into three, and unknown among 
many tribes, yet obtained in very early times among 
Algonkins, Cherokees, Choctaws, Creeks, Aztecs, Muys- 

1832), who gives numerous instances beyond those I have cited, 
and directs with emphasis the attention of the reader to this con- 
stant repetition. 

1 Cyrus Thomas, Notes on Maya and Mexican Manuscripts ; D. G. 
Brinton, The Native Calendar of Central America and Mexico, etc.; 
and Codex Vatkanus, in Kingsborough' s Mexican Antiquities. 



92 



THE SACRED NUMBER, ITS ORIGIN. 



cas, Peruvians, and Araucanians. They were supposed 
to be produced by the unending struggles and varying 
fortunes of the four aerial giants who rule the winds. 

We must seek in mythology the key to the monoto- 
nous repetition and the sanctity of this number ; and, 
furthermore, we must seek it in those natural modes of 
expression of the religious sentiment which are above 
the power of blood or circumstance to control. One of 
these modes, we have seen, was that which led to the 
identification of the divinity with the wind, and this it 
is that solves the enigma in the present instance. Uni- 
versally the spirits of the cardinal points were imagined 
to be in the winds that blew from them. The names of 
these directions and of the corresponding winds are 
often the same, and when not, there exists an intimate 
connection between them. For example, take the lan- 
guages of the Mayas, Huastecas, and Quiches of Central 
America ; in all of them the word for north is synony- 
mous with north wind, and so on with the other three 
points of the compass. Or, again, that of the Dakotas, 
and the word tate-ouye-toba, translated " the four quar- 
ters of the heavens," means literally, " whence the four 
winds come." 1 

It were not difficult to extend the list ; but illustra- 
tions are all that is required. Let it be remembered 
how closely the motions of the air are associated, in 
thought and language, with the operations of the soul 
and the idea of God ; let it further be considered what 
support this association receives from the power of the 
winds on the weather, bringing as they do the light- 
ning and the storm, the zephyr that cools the brow, and 
the tornado that levels the forest ; how they summon 

1 Biggs, Gram, and Diet, of the Dakota Lang., s. v. 



WORSHIP OF WINDS. 



93 



the rain to fertilize the seed and refresh the shrivelled 
leaves ; how they aid the hunter to stalk the game, and 
usher in the varying seasons ; how, indeed, in a hun- 
dred ways, they intimately concern his comfort and his 
life ; and it will not seem strange that they almost occu- 
pied the place of all other gods in the mind of the 
child of nature. 

Especially as those who gave or withheld the rains 
were they objects of his anxious solicitation. " Ye 
who dwell at the four corners of the earth — at the 
north, at the south, at the east, and at the west," com- 
menced the Aztec prayer to the Tlalocs, gods of the 
showers. 1 For they, as it were, hold the food, the life 
of man in their power, garnered up on high, to grant 
or deny, as they see fit. It was from them that the 
prophet of old was directed to call back the spirits of 
the dead to the dry bones of the valley. " Prophesy 
unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the 
wind, thus saith the Lord God, come forth from the 
four winds, 0 breath, and breathe upon these slain, that 
they may live." (Ezek. xxxvii. 9.) 

In the same spirit the priests of the Eskimos prayed 
to Sillam Innua, the Owner of the Winds, as the highest 
existence ; the abode of the dead they called Sillam 
Aipane, the House of the Winds ; and in their incan- 
tations, when they would summon a new soul to the 
sick, or order back to its home some troublesome 
spirit, their invocations were ever addressed to the 
winds from the cardinal points — to Pauna the East 
and Sauna the West, to Kauna the South and Auna 
the North. 2 

1 Sahagun, Hist, de la Nueva Espafia, in Kingsborough, v. p. 375. 

2 Egede, Nachrichten von Gronland, pp. 137, 173, 285 (Kopen- 
hagen, 1790). 



94 



THE SACKED NUMBER, ITS ORIGIN. 



As the rain-bringers, as the life-givers, it were no far- 
fetched metaphor to call them the fathers of our race. 
Hardly a nation on the continent but seems to have 
had some vague tradition of an origin from four bro- 
thers, to have at some time been led by four leaders or 
princes, or in some manner to have connected the ap- 
pearance and action of four important personages with 
its earliest traditional history. Sometimes the myth 
defines clearly these fabled characters as the spirits of 
the winds, sometimes it clothes them in uncouth, gro- 
tesque metaphors, sometimes again it so weaves them 
into actual history that we are at a loss where to draw 
the line that divides fiction from truth. 

I shall attempt to follow step by step the growth of 
this myth from its simplest expression, where the 
transparent drapery makes no pretence to conceal its 
true meaning, through the ever more elaborate narra- 
tives, the more strongly marked personifications of 
more cultivated nations, until it assumes the outlines 
of, and has palmed itself upon the world as actual his- 
tory. 

This simplest form is that which alone appears among 
the Algonkins and Dakotas. They both traced their 
lives back to four ancestors, personages concerned in 
various ways with the first things of time, not rightly 
distinguished as men or gods, but very positively identi- 
fied with the four winds. Whether from one or all of 
these the world was peopled, whether by process of gen- 
eration or some other more obscure way, the old people 
had not said, or saying, had not agreed. 1 

It is a shade more complex when we come to the 
Creeks. They told of four men who came from the 

1 Schoolcraft, Algic Researches, i. p. 139, and Indian Tribes, iv. p. 
229. 



HAITIAN MYTHS. 



95 



four corners of the earth, who brought them the sacred 
fire from the cardinal points, and pointed out the seven 
sacred plants. They were called the Hi-you-yul-gee. 1 
Having rendered them this service, the kindly visitors 
disappeared in a cloud, returning whence they came. 
When another and more ancient legend informs us 
that the Creeks were at first divided into four clans, 
and alleged a descent from four female ancestors, it 
will hardly be venturing too far to recognize in these 
four ancestors the four friendly patrons from the car- 
dinal points. 2 

The ancient inhabitants of Haiti, when first discov- 
ered by the Spaniards, had a similar genealogical story, 
which Peter Martyr relates with various excuses for its 
silliness and exclamations at its absurdity. Perhaps 
the fault lay less in its lack of meaning than in his 
want of insight. It was to the effect that men lived 
in caves, and were destroyed by the parching rays of 
the sun, and were destitute of means to prolong their 
race, until they caught and subjected to their use four 
women who were swift of foot and slippery as eels. 
These were the mothers of the race of men. Or again, 
it was said that a certain king had a huge gourd, which 
contained all the waters of the earth ; four brothers, 
who coming into the world at one birth had cost their 
mother her life, ventured to the gourd to fish, picked it 
up, but frightened by the old king's approach, dropped 

1 Probably the plural form of the sacred interjection or chorus, 
hi-yo-yu ; though Gatschet, who spells it hayayalgi, considers it de- 
rived from hayayagi, light or radiance. Migration Legend of the 
Creeks, vol. ii. p. 83. 

2 Hawkins, Sketch of the Creek Country, pp. 81, 82 ; Blomes, Acc. 
of his Majesty'' s Colonies, p. 156, London, 1687 ; Gatschet, Migration 
Legend of the Creeks, vol. i. p. 231. 



96 



THE SACRED NUMBER, ITS ORIGIN. 



it on the ground, broke it into fragments, and scattered 
the waters over the earth, forming the seas, lakes, and 
rivers, as they now are. These brothers in time became 
the fathers of a nation, and to them they traced their 
lineage. 1 With the previous examples before our eyes, 
it asks no vivid fancy to see in these quaternions once 
more the four winds, the bringers of rain, so swift and 
so slippery. 

The Navajos are a rude tribe north of Mexico. Yet 
even they have an allegory to the effect that when the 
first man came up from the ground under the figure of 
the moth-worm, the four spirits of the cardinal points 
were already there, and hailed him with the exclama- 
tion, " Lo, he is of our race." 2 It is a poor and feeble 
effort to tell the same old story. 

In the tolerably well-preserved legends of the various 
Mayan tribes, the Quiches, Cakchiquels, and Tzentals, 
we find constant reference to the four ancestors, or genii, 
or guardians, the Tutul Xiu, or the Ghanan. But, in- 
deed, this was a trait of all the civilized nations of 
Central America and Mexico. An author who would 
be very unwilling to admit any mythical interpretation 
of the coincidence has adverted to it in tones of aston- 
ishment : " In all the Aztec and Toltec histories there 
are four characters who constantly reappear ; either as 
priests or envoys of the gods, or of hidden and disguised 
majesty ; or as guides and chieftains of tribes during 

1 Peter Martyr, Be Reb. Ocean., Dec. i. lib. ix. The story is also 
told more at length by the Brother Komain Pane, in the essay on 
the ancient histories of the natives he drew up by the order of 
Columbus. It has been reprinted with notes by the Abbe Bras- 
seur, Paris, 1864, p. 438, sqq. Las Casas also mentions it, Historia 
de las Indian : Lib. ii. 

2 Schoolcraft, Ind. Tribes, iv. p. 89. 



THE FOUR QUARTERS. 



97 



their migrations ; or as kings and rulers of monarchies 
after their foundation ; and even to the time of the con- 
quest, there are always four princes who compose the 
supreme government, whether in Guatemala or in 
Mexico." 1 

This fourfold division points not to a common his- 
tory, but to a common nature. The ancient heroes and 
demigods, who, four in number, figure in all these an- 
tique traditions, were not men of flesh and blood, but 
the invisible currents of air who brought the fertilizing 
showers. 

They corresponded to the four gods Bacab, who in 
the Yucatecan mythology were supposed to stand one 
at each corner of the world, supporting, like gigantic 
caryatides, the overhanging firmament. When at the 
general deluge all other gods and men were swallowed 
by the waters they alone escaped to people it anew. 
These four, known by the names of Kan, Muluc, Ix, 
and Cauac, represented respectively the east, north, 
west, and south, and as in Oriental symbolism, so here 
each quarter of the compass was distinguished by a 
color, the east by yellow, the south by red, the^west by 
black, and the north by white. 2 

1 Brasseur, Le Liv. Sac., Introd., p. cxvii. 

2 Diego de Landa, Bel. de las Cosas de Yucatan, pp. 160, 206, 
208, ed. Brasseur. The assignment of the colors was not uniform. 
See my Primer of Mayan Hieroglyphics, p. 41. Such a dedication of 
colors to the cardinal points is universal in Central Asia. The 
geographical names of the Bed Sea, the Black Sea, the Yellow Sea 
or Persian Gulf, and the White Sea or the Mediterranean, are 
derived from this association. The cities of China, many of them 
at least, have their gates which open toward the cardinal points 
painted of certain colors, and precisely these four, the white, the 
black, the red, and the yellow, are those which in Oriental myth 
the mountain in the centre of Paradise shows to the different car- 

7 > 



98 



THE SACKED NUMBER, ITS ORIGIN. 



The names of these mysterious personages, employed 
somewhat as we do the Dominical letters, adjusted the 
calendar of the Mayas, and by their propitious or por- 
tentous combinations was arranged their system of 
judicial astrology. They were the gods of rain, and 
under the title Chac, the Red Ones, were the chief min- 
isters of the highest power. As such they were repre- 
sented in the religious ceremonies by four old men, 
constant attendants on the high priest in his official 
functions. In this most civilized branch of the red 
race, as everywhere else, we thus find four mythological 
characters prominent beyond all others, giving a pecu- 
liar physiognomy to the national legends, arts, and 
sciences ; and in them once more we recognize by signs 
infallible, personifications of the four cardinal points 
and the four winds. 

They rarely lose altogether their true character. The 
Quiche legends tell us that the four men who were first 
created by the Heart of Heaven, Hurakan, the Air in 
Motion, were infinitely keen of eye and swift of foot ; 
that " they measured and saw all that exists at the four 
corners and the four angles of the sky and the earth ;" 
that they did not fulfil the design of their maker " to 
bring forth and produce when the season of harvest 
was near," until he blew into their eyes a cloud, " until 
their faces were obscured as when one breathes on a 
mirror." Then he gave them as wives the four mothers 
of our species, whose names were Falling Water, Beau- 
tiful Water, Water of Serpents, and Water of Birds. 1 
Truly he who can see aught but a transparent myth in 

dinal points. (Sepp, Heidenthum und Christenthum, i. p. 177.) The 
coincidence furnishes food for reflection. 

Le Livre Sacre des Quiches, pp. 203-5, note. 



THE FOUR IN ONE. 



99 



this recital is a realist who would astonish Euhemerus 
himself. 

There is in these Aztec legends a quaternion besides 
this of the first men, one that bears marks of a profound 
contemplation on the course of nature, one that answers 
to the former as the heavenly phase of the earthly con- 
ception. It is seen in the four personages, or perhaps 
we should say modes of action, that make up the one 
Supreme Cause of All, Hurakan, the breath, the wind, 
the Divine Spirit. They are He who creates, He who 
gives Form, He who gives Life, and He who reproduces. 1 

This acute and extraordinary analysis of the origin 
and laws of organic life, clothed under the ancient be- 
lief in the action of the winds, reveals a depth of 
thought for which we were hardly prepared, and is one 
of the few instances of speculative generalization among 
the red race. It is clearly visible in the earlier portions 
of the legends of the Quiches, and is the more surely 
of native origin as it has been quite lost on both their 
translators. 

Go where we will, the same story meets us. The 
empire of the Incas was attributed in the sacred chants 
of the Amautas, the priests assigned to take charge of 
the records, to four brothers and their wives. These 
mythical civilizers are said to have emerged from a 

1 The analogy is remarkable between these and the u quatre 
actes de la puissance generatrice jusqu'a Fentier developpement 
des corps organises," portrayed by four globes in the Mycenean 
bas-reliefs. See Guigniaut, Religions de V Antiquite, i. p. 374. It 
were easy to multiply the instances of such parallelism in the 
growth of religious thought in the Old and New World, but I 
refrain from the temptation, as their discussion would involve the 
study of primitive religions in general, which would take me too 
far from the aim of the present work. 



100 



THE SACRED NUMBER, ITS ORIGIN. 



cave called Pacari tampu, which may mean " the House 
of Subsistence," reminding us of the four heroes who 
in Aztec legend set forth to people the world from Tona- 
catepec, the mountain of our subsistence : or again it 
may mean — for like many of these mythical names it 
seems to have been designedly chosen to bear a double 
construction — the Lodgings of the Dawn, recalling an- 
other Aztec legend which points for the birthplace of 
the race to Tula in the distant orient. 1 

The cave itself suggests to the classical reader that 
of Eolus, or may be paralleled with that in which the 
Iroquois fabled the winds were imprisoned by their 
lord, or with that in which, according to early Christian 
legend, Jesus was born. These brothers were of no 
common kin. Their voices could shake the earth and 
their hands heap up mountains. Like the thunder 
god, they stood on the hills and hurled their sling- 
stones to the four corners of the earth. When one was 
overpowered he fled upward to the heaven or was 
turned into stone, and it was by their aid and counsel 
that the savages who possessed the land renounced 
their barbarous habits and commenced to till the soil. 
There can be no doubt but that this in turn is but an- 
other transformation of the Protean myth we have so 
long pursued. 2 

There are traces of the same legend among many 
other tribes of the continent, but the trustworthy re- 

1 See H. Cunow, Die socicde Verfassung des Inkareichs, p. 20 (Stutt- 
gart, 1896). 

2 For the mythology of Peru, Garcilasso de la Vega, Comentarios 
Reales, and the Tres Belaciones Peruanas, published in Madrid, 
1879, are valuable authorities. A good resume is given by J. G. 
Muller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, pp. 308 sqq., from the older 
w riters. Von Tschudi, Middendorf and Markham are more recent. 



THE FOUR BROTHERS. 



101 



ports we have of them are too scanty to permit analy- 
sis. Enough that they are mentioned in a note, for 
it is every way likely that could we resolve their mean- 
ing they too would carry us hack to the four winds. 1 

Let no one suppose, however, that this was the only 
myth of the origin of man. Far from it. It was but 
one of many, for, as I shall hereafter attempt to show, 

1 The Tupis of Brazil claim a descent from four brothers, three 
of whose names are given by Hans Staden, a prisoner among them 
about 1550, as Krimen, Hermittan, and Ceem ; the latter he ex- 
plains to mean the morning, the east (le matin, printed by mistake 
le mutin, Relation de Hans Staden de Homberg, p. 274, ed. Ternaux- 
Compans; compare Adam, Gram. Comp. de la Langue Tupi, s. v. 
Koema). Their southern relatives, the Guaranis of Paraguay, also 
spoke of the four brothers and gave two of their names as Tupi 
and Guarani, respectively parents of the tribes called after them 
(Guevara, Hist, del Paraguay, lib. i. cap. ii., in Waitz). The four- 
fold division of the Muyscas of Bogota was traced back to four 
chieftains created by their hero god Nemqueteba (E. Eestrepo, 
Los Aborigines de Colombia, cap. iii., Bogota, 1892). The Nahuas 
of Mexico much more frequently spoke of themselves as descend- 
ants of four or eight original families than of seven (Humboldt, 
ibid., p. 317, and others in Waitz, Anthropologic, iv. pp. 36, 37). 
The Sacs or Sauks of the Upper Mississippi supposed that two 
men and two women were first created, and from these four sprang 
all men (Morse, Rep. on Ind. Affairs, App. p. 138). The Ottoes, 
Pawnees, " and other Indians," had a tradition that from eight 
ancestors all nations and races were descended (Id. p. 249). This 
duplication of the number probably arose from assigning the first 
four men four women as wives. The division into clans or totems 
which prevails in most northern tribes rests theoretically on de- 
scent from different ancestors. The Shawnees and Natchez were 
divided into four such clans, the Choctaws, Navajos, and Iroquois 
into eight, thus proving that in those tribes also the myth I have 
been discussing was recognized. A tribe visited by Lederer in Vir- 
ginia was composed of four clans, who neither married nor buried 
together (Discoveries, p. 5, London, 1672). 



102 



THE SACRED NUMBER, ITS ORIGIN. 



the laws that governed the formations of such myths 
not only allowed but enjoined great divergence of form. 
Equally far was it from being the only image which the 
inventive fancy hit upon to express the action of the 
winds as the rain bringers. They too were many, but 
may all be included in a twofold division, either as the 
winds were supposed to flow in from the corners of the 
earth or outward from its central point. 

Thus they are spoken of under such figures as four 
tortoises at the angles of the earthly plane who vomit 
forth the rains, 1 or four gigantic caryatides who sustain 
the heavens and blow the winds from their capacious 
lungs, 2 or more frequently as four rivers flowing from 
the broken calabash on high, as the Haitians, draining 
the waters of the primitive world, 3 as four animals who 
bring from heaven the maize, 4 as four messengers whom 
the god of air sends forth, or under a coarser trope as 
the spittle he ejects toward the cardinal points which is 
straightway transformed into wild rice, tobacco, and 
maize. 5 

Constantly from the palace of the lord of the world, 
seated on the high hill of heaven, blow four winds, 
pour four streams, refreshing and fecundating the earth. 
Therefore, in the myths of ancient Iran there is men- 
tion of a celestial fountain, Arduisur, the virgin daugh- 
ter of Ormuzd, whence four all nourishing rivers roll 
their waves toward the cardinal points ; therefore the 
Tibetans believe that on the sacred mountain of Hi- 
mavata grows the tree of life Zampu, from whose foot 

1 Mandans in Catlin, Letts, and Notes, i. p. 181. 

2 The Mayas, Cogolludo, Hist, de Yucathan, lib. iv. cap. 8. 

3 The Navajos, Schoolcraft, Ind. Tribes, iv. p. 89. 
* The Quiches, Ximenes, Or. de los Indios, p. 79. 

5 The Iroquois, Miiller, Amer. Urreligionen, p. 109. 



THE RIVERS OF PARADISE. 



103 



once more flow the waters of life in four streams to the 
four quarters of the world ; and therefore it is that the 
same tale is told by the Chinese of the mountain Kou- 
antun, by the Edda of the mountain in Asaheim, 
whence flows the spring Hvergelmir, by the Brahmins 
of Mount Meru, and by the Parsees of Mount Albors 
in the Caucasus. Need I add to this catalogue the 
legend of the four rivers of Paradise, borrowed in 
Genesis from ancient Babylonian myths, and which 
learned men to-day, like the writer of that venerable 
document, strive in vain to identify with rivers of ter- 
restrial geography ? 

Each nation called their sacred mountain " the navel 
of the earth ;" for not only was it the supposed centre 
of the habitable world, but through it, as the foetus 
through the umbilical cord, the earth drew her in- 
crease. 1 Beyond all other spots were they accounted 
fertile, scenes of joyous plaisance, of repose, and eter- 
nal youth ; there rippled the waters of health, there 
blossomed the tree of life ; they were fit trysting spots 
of gods and men. 

Hence came the tales of the terrestrial paradise, the 
rose garden of Feridun, the Eden gardens of the world. 
The name shows the origin, for paradise (in Sanscrit, 
para desa) means literally high land. There, in the 
unanimous opinion of the Orient, dwelt once in un- 
alloyed delight the first of men; thence driven by 
untoward fate, no more anywhere could they find the 

1 The navel string was regarded as a specially sacred object by 
many American tribes. It was buried, and at certain seasons the 
individual to whom it belonged visited the spot to perform reli- 
gious rites. See Sahagun, Historia, Lib. v. App. ; Kingsborough, 
Mexican Antiquities, vol. v. p. 91 ; Brinton, The Native Calendar, 
p. 18. 



104 



THE SACRED NUMBER, ITS ORIGIN. 



path thither. Some thought that in the north among 
the fortunate Hyperboreans, others that in the moun- 
tains of the moon where dwelt the long lived Ethio- 
pians, and others again that in the furthest east, 
underneath the dawn, was situate the seat of pristine 
happiness ; but many were of opinion that somewhere 
in the western sea, beyond the pillars of Hercules and 
the waters of the Outer Ocean, lay the garden of the 
Hesperides, the Islands of the Blessed, the earthly 
Elysion. 

It is not without design that I recall this early dream 
of the religious fancy. When Christopher Columbus, 
fired by the hope of discovering this terrestrial para- 
dise, 1 broke the enchantment of the cloudy sea and 
found a new world, it was but to light upon the same 
race of men, deluding themselves with the same hope 
of earthly joys, the same fiction of a long lost garden 
of their youth. They told him that still in the west, 
amid the mountains of Paria, was a spot whence 
flowed mighty streams over all lands, and which in 
sooth was the spot he sought f and when that baseless 
fabric had vanished, there still remained the fabled 
island of Boiuca, or Bimini, hundreds of leagues north 
of Hispaniola, whose glebe was watered by a fountain 
of such noble virtue as to restore youth and vigor to 
the worn out and the aged. 3 

This was no fiction of the natives to rid themselves 
of burdensome guests. Long before the white man 
approached their shores, families had started from 

1 That such was in part his purpose, see Navarrete, Viages, 
Tom. i. p. 259. 

2 Peter Martyr, Be Beb. Ocean., Dec. iii., lib. ix. p. 195 (Colon, 
1574). 

3 Ibid., Dec. iii., lib. x. p. 202. 



THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE. 



105 



Cuba, Yucatan, and Honduras in search of these reno- 
vating waters, and not returning, were supposed by 
their kindred to have been detained by the delights of 
that enchanted land, and to be revelling in its seduc- 
tive joys, forgetful of former ties. 1 

Perhaps it was but another rendering of the same 
belief that pointed to the impenetrable forests of the 
Orinoco, the ancient homes of the Caribs and Ara- 
wacks, and there located the famous realm of El 
Dorado with its imperial capital Manoa, abounding in 
precious metals and all manner of gems, peopled by a 
happy race, and governed by an equitable ruler. 

The Aztec priests never chanted more regretful dirges 
than when they sang of Tulan, the cradle of their race, 
where once it dwelt in peaceful indolent happiness, 
whose groves were filled with birds of sweet voices and 
gay plumage, whose generous soil brought forth spon- 
taneously maize, cacao, aromatic gums, and fragrant 
flowers. " Land of riches and plenty, where the gourds 
grow an arm's length across, where an ear of corn is a 
load for a stout man, and its stalks are as high as trees ; 
land where the cotton ripens of its own accord of all 
rich tints ; land abounding with limpid emeralds, tur- 
quoises, gold, and silver." 2 

This land was also called Tlalocan, from Tlaloc, the 
god of rain, who there had his dwelling place, and Tla- 
pallan, the land of colors, or the red land, for the hues 

1 Florida was also long supposed to be the site of this wondrous 
spring, and it is notorious that both Juan Ponce de Leon and De 
Soto had some lurking hope of discovering it in their expeditions 
thither. I have examined the myth somewhat at length in Notes 
on the Floridian Peninsula, its Literary History, Indian Tribes, and 
Antiquities, pp. 99, 100 (Philadelphia, 1859). 

2 Sahagun, Hist, de la Nueva Espana, lib. iii. cap. iii. 



106 



THE SACRED NUMBER, ITS ORIGIN. 



of the sky at sunrise floated over it. Its inhabitants 
were surnamed children of the air, or of Quetzalcoatl, 
and from its centre rose the holy mountain Tonacate- 
pec, the mountain of our life or subsistence. Its sup- 
posed location was in the east, whence in that country 
blow the winds that bring mild rains, says Sahagun, 
and that missionary was himself asked, as coming from 
the east, whether his home was in Tlapallan ; more 
definitely by some it was situated among the lofty 
peaks on the frontiers of Guatemala, and all the great 
rivers that water the earth were supposed to have their 
sources there. 1 

But here, as elsewhere, its site was not determined. 
" There is a Tulan," says an ancient authority, " where 
the sun rises, and there 'is another in the land of shades, 
and another where the sun reposes, and thence came 
we ; and still another where the sun reposes, and there 
dwells God." 2 

1 Le Lkre Sacre des Quiches, Introd., p. clviii. 

2 Memorial de Tecpan Atitlan, in Brasseur, Hist du Mexique, 
i. p. 167. The derivation of Tulan, or Tula, is extremely uncer- 
tain. The Abbe Brasseur saw in it the ultima Thule of the ancient 
geographers, which suited his idea of early American history. Her- 
nando De Soto found a village of this name on the Mississippi, or 
near it. But on looking into Gallatin's vocabularies, tvlla turns out 
to be the Choctaw word for stone, and as De Soto was then in the 
Choctaw country, the coincidence is explained at once. Busch- 
mann, who spells it Tollan, takes it from tolin, a rush, and translates, 
juncetum, Ort der Binsen. ( Ueber die Aztekisehen Orstnamen, p. 682.) It 
is sometimes found in the form Toncdlan, which means ' 1 the sunny 
place," from tonatiuh with the ending thin. Those who have at- 
tempted to make history from these mythological fables have been 
much puzzled about the location of this mystic land. Humboldt 
has placed it on the northwest coast, Cabrera at Palenque, Clavi- 
gero north of Anahuac, etc. etc. M. de Charencey remarks that 
more than twenty cities in Mexico and Central America bore this 



THE EDEN GARDEN. 



107 



The myth of the Quiches but changes the name of 
this pleasant land. With them it was Pan-paxil-pa- 
cayala, where the waters divide in falling, or, between 
the waters parcelled out and mucky. This was " an 
excellent land, full of pleasant things, where was store 
of white corn and yellow corn, where one could not 
count the fruits, nor estimate the quantity of honey 
and food." Over it ruled the lord of the air, and from 
it the four sacred animals carried the corn to make the 
flesh of men. 1 

Once again, in the legends of the Mixtecas, we hear 
the old story repeated of the garden where the first two 
brothers dwelt. It lay between a meadow and that 
lofty peak which supports the heavens and the palaces 
of the gods. " Many trees were there, such as yield 
flowers and roses, very luscious fruits, divers herbs, and 
aromatic spices." The names of the brothers were the 
Wind of Nine Serpents and the Wind of Nine Caverns. 
The first was as an eagle, and flew aloft over the waters 
that poured around their enchanted garden ; the sec- 
ond was as a serpent with wings, who proceeded with 
such velocity that he pierced rocks and walls. They 
were too swift to be seen by the sharpest eye, and were 
one near as they passed, he was only aware of a whisper 
and a rustling like that of the wind in the leaves. 2 

name. (Le Mythe de Votan, p. 29.) Aztlan, literally the White Land, 
is another name originally of mythical purport which it would be 
equally vain to seek on the terrestrial globe. In the extract in the 
text, the word translated God is Qabavil, an old word for the highest 
god, either from a root meaning to open, to disclose, or from one 
of similar form signifying to wonder, to marvel ; literally, there- 
fore, the Kevealer, or the Wondrous One ( Vocab. de la Lengua 
Quiche, p. 209 : Paris, 1862). 

1 Ximenes, Or. de los Indios, p. 80, Le Livre Sucre, p. 195. 

2 Garcia, Origen de los Indios, lib. iv. cap. 4. 



108 



THE SACRED NUMBER, ITS ORIGIN. 



Wherever, in short, the lust of gold lured the early- 
adventurers, they were told of some nation a little fur- 
ther on, some wealthy and prosperous land, abundant 
and fertile, satisfying the desire of the heart. It was 
sometimes deceit, and it was sometimes the credited fic- 
tion of the earthly paradise, that in all ages has with a 
promise of perfect joy consoled the aching heart of 
man. 

It is instructive to study the associations that nat- 
urally group themselves around each of the cardinal 
points, and watch how these are mirrored on the sur- 
face of language, and have directed the current of 
thought. Jacob Grimm has performed this task with 
fidelity and beauty .as regards the Aryan race, but the 
means are wanting to apply his searching method to 
the indigenous tongues of America. Enough if in 
general terms their mythological value be determined. 

When the day begins man wakes from his slumbers, 
faces the rising sun, and prays. The east is before 
him ; by it he learns all other directions ; it is to him 
what the north is to the needle ; with reference to it 
he assigns in his mind the position of the three other 
cardinal points. 1 There is the starting place of the 
celestial fires, the home of the sun, the womb of the 
morning. It represents in space the beginning of 
things in time, and as the bright and glorious creatures 
of the sky come forth thence, man conceits that his 
ancestors also in remote ages wandered from the 
orient ; there in the opinion of many in both the old 
and new world was the cradle of the race ; there in 
Aztec legend was the fabled land of Tlapallan, and the 
wind from the east was called the wind of Paradise, 

1 Compare the German expression sich orientiren, to right one- 
self by the. east, to understand one's surroundings. 



EAST AND WEST. 



109 



Tlalocavitl. "The East," says Mr. Dorsey, speaking 
of the Dakotas, " symbolizes life and the source there- 
of;" therefore they lay a corpse with the head to the 
east, as intimating the hope of a future life. 1 

From this direction came, according to the almost 
unanimous opinion of the Indian tribes, those hero 
gods who taught them arts and religion, thither they 
returned, and from thence they would again appear to 
resume their ancient sway. As the dawn brings light, 
and with light is associated in every human mind the 
ideas of knowledge, safety, protection, majesty, divinity, 
as it dispels the spectres of night, as it defines the car- 
dinal points, and brings forth the sun and the day, it 
occupied the primitive mind to an extent that can 
hardly be magnified beyond the truth. It is in fact 
the central figure in most natural religions. 

The west, as the grave of the heavenly luminaries, 
or rather as their goal and place of repose, brings with 
it thoughts of sleep, of death, of tranquillity, of rest 
from labor. When the evening of his days was come, 
when his course was run, and man had sunk from 
sight, he was supposed to follow the sun and find some 
spot of repose for his tired soul in the distant west. 
There, with general consent, the tribes north of the 
Gulf of Mexico supposed the happy hunting grounds ; 
there, taught by the same analogy, the ancient Aryans 
placed the Nerriti, the exodus, the land of the dead, as 
also did the Egyptians and many other nations of the 
Old World. "The old notion among us," said on one 
occasion a distinguished chief of the Creek nation, " is 
that when we die the spirit goes the way the sun goes, 

1 J. O. Dorsey, A Study of Siouan Cults, in 11th Eep. Bur. of 
Ethnology, p. 377. 



110 



THE SACRED NUMBER, ITS ORIGIN. 



to the west, and there joins its family and friends who 
went before it. 1 

In the northern hemisphere the shadows fall to the 
north, thence blow cold and furious winds, thence 
come the snow and early thunder. Perhaps all its 
primitive inhabitants, of whatever race, thought it the 
seat of the mighty gods. 2 A floe of ice in the Arctic 
Sea was the home of the guardian spirit of the Algon- 
kins f on a mountain near the north star the Dakotas 
thought Heyoka dwelt who rules the seasons ; and the 
realm of Mictli, the Aztec god of death, lay where the 
shadows pointed. From that cheerless abode his 
sceptre reached over all creatures, even the gods them- 
selves, for sooner or later all must fall before him. The 
great spirit of the dead, said the Ottawas, lives in the 
dark north/ and there, in the opinion of the Monquis 
of California, resided their chief god, Gumongo. 5 

Unfortunately the makers of vocabularies have rarely 
included the words north, south, east, and west, in their 
lists, and the methods of expressing these ideas adopted 
by the Indians can only be partially discovered. The 
east and w T est were usually called from the rising and 
setting of the sun as in our words orient and Occident, 
but occasionally from traditional notions. The Mayas 
named the west the greater, the east the lesser debarka- 
tion ; believing that while their culture hero Zamna 
came from the east with a few attendants, the mass of 
the population arrived from the opposite direction. 6 

1 Hawkins, Sketch of the Creek Country, p. 80. 

2 See Jacob Grimm, Geschichte der Deutschen Sprache, p. 681. 

3 De Smet, Oregon Missions, p. 352. 

4 Bressani, Relation Abrege, p. 93. 

5 Venegas, Hist, of California, i. p. 91 (London, 1759). 

6 Cogolludo, Hist, de Yucathan, lib. iv. cap. iii. 



NORTH AND SOUTH. 



Ill 



The Aztecs spoke of the east as " the direction of 
Tlalocan," the terrestrial paradise. 

For north and south there were no such natural 
appellations, and consequently the greatest diversity is 
exhibited in the plans adopted to express them. The 
north in the Caddo tongue is " the place of cold," in 
Dakota ''the situation of the pines," in Creek " the 
abode of the (north) star," in Algonkin " the home of 
the soul," in Aztec "the direction of Mictla," the realm 
of death, in Quiche and Quichua " to the right hand;" 1 
while for the south we find such terms as in Dakota 
" the downward direction," in Algonkin " the place of 
warmth," in Quich6 " to the left hand," while among 
the Eskimos, who look in this direction for the sun, its 
name implies " before one," just as does the Hebrew 
word kedem, which, however, this more southern tribe 
applied to the east. 

We can trace the sacredness of the number four in 
other curious and unlooked-for developments. Multi- 
plied into the number of the fingers — the arithmetic 
of every child and primitive man — or by adding to- 
gether the first four members of its arithmetical series 
(4 + 8+ 12 + 16), it gives the number forty. This was 
taken as a limit to the sacred dances of some Indian 

1 Alexander von Humboldt has asserted that the Quichuas had 
other and very circumstantial terms to express the cardinal points 
drawn from the positions of the sun (Ansichten der Natur, ii. p. 
368). But the distinguished naturalist overlooked the literal 
meaning of the phrases he quotes for north and south, intip chau- 
tuta chayananpata and intip ehaupunchau chayananpata, literally, the 
sun arriving toward the midnight, the sun arriving toward the 
midday. These are evidently translations of the Spanish hacia la 
media noche, hacia el medio dia, for they could not have originated 
among a people under or south of the equatorial line. Other terms 
are given by Middendorf, Keshua Worterbiich, s. v. inti. 



112 



THE SACRED NUMBER, ITS ORIGIN. 



tribes, and by others as the highest number of chants 
to be employed in exorcising diseases. Consequently 
it came to be fixed as a limit in exercises of prepara- 
tion or purification. The females of the Orinoco tribes 
fasted forty days before marriage, and those of the 
upper Mississippi were held unclean the same length 
of time after childbirth; such was the term of the 
Prince of Tezcuco's fast when he wished an heir to his 
throne, and such the number of days the Mandans 
supposed it required to wash clean the world at the 
deluge. 1 

No one is ignorant how widely this belief was preva- 
lent in the old world, nor how the quadrigesimal is still 
a sacred term with some denominations of Christianity. 

In another phase of custom the cardinal points were 
closely associated with ceremonies relating to reverence 
paid the heavenly bodies, not only in America but nigh 
universally. The marriage rite of the Indian Aryans 
prescribed that the couple should walk together thrice 
around a fire, keeping it on their right, thus following 
the apparent motion of the sun and stars. In Scot- 
land there still survive many superstitions connected 
with the deisel, the similar movement from left to right, 
and with the widdershins, the motion in the reverse 
direction. Thus arose the " sinistral and dextral cir- 
cuits," and the notions of good or ill luck connected 
with one or the other hand, the left often bearing the 
happier augury. 2 

From their original associations the motion with the 
heavenly bodies came to represent celestial, that con- 

1 Catlin, Letters and Notes, i., Letter 22; La Hontan, Memoires, 
ii. p. 151; Gumilla, Hist, del Orinoco, p. 159. 

2 As in Eome, China and also Mexico. Orozco y Berra, Hist. 
Antigua de Mexico, i. p. 125. 



THE CEREMONIAL CIRCUIT. 



113 



trary to them terrestrial symbolism, and so they are 
explained to this day in Korea, where, as in many other 
lands, they are prominent in methods of divination, in 
the rituals of religion, in the offices of courtesy, and in 
games of chance and recreation. 1 

All this is repeated in America. We find the same 
games, patolli, tlachtli, etc., the same methods of divi- 
nation, the same religious processions, based on the 
idea of following or reversing the apparent motions 
of the stars in naming, arranging or visiting the four 
world quarters. When in the tribal circle the various 
gentes were assigned their places with reference to the 
cardinal points, the formal movements of the assembly 
were prescribed in a " ceremonial circuit " of this na- 
ture with rigidity. In the sacred dances the similar 
motions were taught, the men sometimes moving in 
one, the women in the other direction. As the gods visit 
the regions of the heavens in due order and solemn 
procession, so it was conceived should man ceremoni- 
ally move from one to another of the regions of the ter- 
restrial plane ; but as man is not of the gods, there were 
reasons why his circuit should often differ from theirs. 2 

But a more striking parallelism awaits us. The sym- 
bol that beyond all others has fascinated the human 
mind, the cross, finds here its source and meaning. 
Scholars have pointed out its sacredness in many nat- 
ural religions, and have reverently accepted it as a 
mystery, or offered scores of conflicting and often de- 
basing interpretations. It is but another symbol of 
the four cardinal points, the four winds of heaven. This 

1 Stewart Culin, Korean Games, Introduction. 

2 On this interesting subject see J. O. Dorsey, Study of Siouan 
Cults, chap. vii. ; J. W. Fewkes, in Jour. Amer. Folk-lore, 1892, p. 
33 ; F. H. Cushing, in Amer. Anthropologist, 1892, p. 303, etc. 

8 



114 



THE SACRED NUMBER, ITS ORIGIN. 



will luminously appear by a study of its use and mean- 
ing in America. 

The Catholic missionaries found it was no new object 
of adoration to the red race, and were in doubt whether 
to ascribe the fact to the pious labors of St. Thomas or 
the sacrilegious subtlety of Satan. It was the central 
object in the great temple of Cozumel, and is still pre- 
served on the bas-reliefs of the ruined city of Palenque. 
From time immemorial it had received the'prayers and 
sacrifices of the Nahuas and Mayas, and was suspended 
as an august emblem from the walls of temples in Po- 
poyan and Cundinamarca. In the Mexican tongue it 
bore the significant and worthy name " Tree of Our 
Life," or " Tree of our Flesh " (Tonacaquahuitl). It 
represented the god of rains and of health, and this 
was everywhere its simple meaning. " Those of Yu- 
catan," say the chroniclers, 11 prayed to the cross as the 
god of rains when they needed water." And Las Casas, 
the early bishop of Chiapas, tells us that " around the 
principal water-springs, the natives were wont to erect 
four altars, in the form of a . cross." 1 The Aztec goddess 
of rains bore a cross in her hand, and at the feast cele- 
brated to her honor in the early spring, victims were 
nailed to a cross and shot with arrows. 

Quetzalcoatl, as god of the winds, bore as his sign 
of office " a mace like the cross of a bishop ;" his robe 
was covered with them strown like flowers, and its 
adoration was throughout connected with his worship. 2 

1 Historid Apologetica, cap. 121 . 

2 On the worship of the cross in Mexico and Yucatan and 
its invariable meaning as representing the gods of rain, con- 
sult Ixtlilxochitl, Hist, des Chichimeques, p. 5 ; Las Casas, 
Hist. Apologetica, c. 121 ; Sahagun, Hist, de la Nueva Espaiia, lib. 
i. cap. ii. Garcia, Or. de ios Indios, lib. iii. cap. vi. p. 109 ; Pala- 



BAIN-MAKING. 



115 



When the Muyscas would sacrifice to the goddess of 
waters they extended cords across the tranquil depths 
of some lake, thus forming a gigantic cross, and at 
their point of intersection threw in their offerings of 
gold, emeralds, and precious oils. 1 The arms of the ] 
cross were designed to point to the cardinal points and 
represent the four winds, the rain bringers. To con- 
firm this explanation, let us have recourse to the sim- 
pler ceremonies of the less cultivated tribes, and see 
the transparent meaning of the symbol as they em- 
ployed it. 

When the rain maker of the Lenni Lenape would 
exert his power, he retired to some secluded spot and ~ 
drew upon the earth the figure of a cross, its arms to- 
wards the cardinal points, placed upon it a piece of 
tobacco, a gourd, a bit of some red stuff, and commenced 
to cry aloud to the spirits of the rains. 2 The Blackfeet 
were accustomed to arrange the glacial boulders on the 
prairies in the form of a cross, in honor, they said, of 
Natose, " the Old Man who sends the winds " (Gen. J. 
M. Brown). The Creeks at the festival of the Busk, 
celebrated, as we have seen, to the four winds, and ac- 
cording to their legends instituted by them, commenced 
with making the new fire. The manner of this was 

cios, Des. delaProv. de Guatemala, p. 29; Cogolludo, Hist, de Yuca- 
than, liv. iv. cap. ix. ; Villagutierre Sotomayor, Hist, de el Itza y 
de el Lacandon, lib. iii. cap. 8 ; and many others might T?e men- 
tioned. In some instances the " mace " of the Mexican divinities 
is the atlatl, or throwing stick, as has been clearly shown by Mrs. 
Zelia Nuttall (Peabody Museum Papers, vol. i. No. 3). The cross 
also appears in this connection. 

1 E. Eestrepo, Los Aborigenes de Colombia, p. 45, after Simon and 
Acosta. 

2 Loskiel, Ges. der Miss, der evang. Brilder, p. 60. 



116 



THE SACRED NUMBER, ITS ORIGIN. 



" to place four logs in the centre of the square, end to 
end, forming a cross, the outer ends pointing to the 
cardinal points ; in the centre of the cross the new fire 
is made." 1 This was the precise form of the cross 
which, according to Las Casas, was an object of worship 
on the coast of South America, near Cumana, at and 
long before the arrival of the Christians. 2 

As the emblem of the winds who dispense the fer- 
tilizing showers it is emphatically the tree of our life, 
our subsistence, and our health. It never had any 
other meaning in America, and if, as has been said, 3 the 
tombs of the Mexicans were cruciform, it was perhaps 
with reference to a resurrection and a future life as por- 
trayed under this symbol, indicating that the buried 
body would rise by the action of the four spirits of the 
world, as the buried seed takes on a new existence 
when watered by the vernal showers. It frequently 
recurs in the ancient Egyptian writings, where it is in- 

1 Hawkins, Sketch of the Creek Country, p. 75. Lapham and 
Pidgeon mention that in the State of Wisconsin many low mounds 
are found in the form of a cross with the arms directed to the car- 
dinal points. They contain no remains. Were they not altars 
built to the Four Winds ? In the mythology of the Dakotas, who 
inhabited that region, the winds were always conceived as birds, 
and for the cross they have a native name literally signifying ''the 
musquito hawk spread out" (Eiggs, Diet, of the Dakota, s. v.). Its 
Maya name is vahora che, the tree erected or set up, the adjective 
being drawn from the military language and implying as a de- 
fence or protection, as the warrior lifts his lance or shield (Landa, 
Rel. de las Cosas de Yucatan, p. 65). The Siouan gentes are placed 
in the tribal circle with reference to the form of the Greek cross 
(Dorsey, Siouan Cults, chap. vi.). 

2 Historia Apologetica, MS., cap. 125. The figure he gives of it 
is that of the Greek cross, two lines of equal length meeting in 
their centres at right angles. The natives of Cumana were Caribs. 

3 Squier, The Serpent Symbol in America, p. 98. 



THE TREE OF LIFE. 



117 



terpreted life; doubtless, could we trace the hieroglyph 
to its source, it would likewise prove to he derived 
from the four winds. Just as these dwellers in the Nile 
valley placed the entrails of the mummy in the four 
Canopic vases around the body, so did the Mayas, ar- 
ranging the jars in groups of four, and called them 
bacabs, from the four gods of the rain or the cardinal 
points. 1 

Often derived from the cross, always associated with 
the same ideas of life and vitality, the tree figures 
conspicuously in American mythology, and occupied a 
prominent position in the ceremonies and rites of the 
native religions. In the cosmical pictographs of the 
Mayas and Nahuas it stands in the centre of the uni- 
verse, its branches rise to the fertilizing rain clouds, 
while its trunk is rooted in the vase of primeval waters 
from which all things took their origin. 2 In the Mexi- 
can sacred formulas the tree was prayed to as iota, 
"Our Father," and was called god of the waters and 
the green foliage. 3 Did the ancient Quiches desire off- 
spring, they sought some spot where a tree overhung 
a fountain, and to it they addressed their prayers and 
offered their sacrifices.* To this day the green tree, 
the vax che, usually the ceiba, is an object of reverence 
near the native hamlets of Central America. It is the 
sign of life, and its honor is a survival of that of the 
primal tree which their ancestors adored. 

It would be easy to accumulate from all parts of 

1 H. de Charencey, Le My the de Votan, p. 39. 

2 Brinton, Primer of Mayan Hieroglyphics, pp. 49, 101. 
| 3 Diego Duran, Historia de los Indios, T. ii. p. 240. 

* F. Ximenes, Origen de los Indios, p. 189. On the cross as an 
art-form conventionalized from the tree, see the remarks of W. H. 
Holmes in 2d An. Eep. Bur. of Ethnol., pp. 270, 271. 



118 



THE SACRED NUMBER, ITS ORIGIN. 



America the evidence of the worship of trees as an 
emblem of life, and their connection with the waters, 
the four winds and the cross. In the picturesque 
myths of the Yurucares of Bolivia, when all men had 
been destroyed by fire, the god Tiri opened a tree, and 
from it allowed various tribes to emerge, until he 
deemed the earth sufficiently peopled, when he closed 
it. But the men were weak and ignorant. Then a 
virgin prayed to Ule, the most beautiful tree of the 
forest, and he came forth and embraced her, engender- 
ing the culture hero who taught them the arts of life. 1 

Everywhere we find traces of the world-tree, the 
primal growth which lifted man from his dark ante- 
rior dwelling place, or from the earth to heaven. The 
Mbocobis of Paraguay tell of such a one which existed 
in the good old times, and by which the souls of the 
departed could climb commodiously to the delightful 
streams of Paradise ; but a wicked old woman, angered 
at her ill luck in fishing in the celestial waters, changed 
herself into a rat and enviously gnawed the roots of 
the tree, so that it fell and could no more be raised. 2 

It is not necessary to extend such references. They 
indicate that the sacredness of trees was connected 
with the mythical concepts I have been considering, 
and find in them their main (though not only) ex- 
planation. In a symbolic or ceremonial form we see 
them reappear in the sacred poles of so many tribes 
the sticks or stakes which surrounded the temples and 
the allied objects which stood for the ideas of life. 3 

1 A. D'Orbigny, V Homme Americain, ii. p. 365. 

2 The tree had a special name, nalliagdigua. Guevara, Hist, del 
Paraguay, cap. xiv. 

3 The Iroquois and Algonkins regarded the tree as an emblem 
of peace, and planted one at the conclusion of a treaty (Smith, 



UNIVERSAL SYMBOLS. 



119 



While thus recognizing the origin of these wide- 
spread symbols in the structure and necessary relations 
of the human body, therefore disowning the mysticism 
that Joseph de Maistre and his disciples have advo- 
cated, let us on the other hand be equally on our guard 
against accepting the material facts which underlie these 
beliefs as their deepest foundation and their exhaustive 
explanation. That were but withered fruit for our la- 
bors, and it might well be asked, where is here the 
divine idea said to be dimly prefigured in mythology ? 

The universal belief in the sacredness of numbers 
is an instinctive perception of a fundamental fact, a 
recognition by the intellect of the method of its own 
action. The laws of chemical combination, of the 
various modes of motion, of all organic growth, show 
that simple numerical relations govern all the proper- 
ties and are inherent to the very constitution of matter. 
In view of such facts is it presumptuous to predict 
that experiment itself will prove the truth of Kepler's 
beautiful saying : " The universe is a harmonious 
whole, the soul of which is God ; numbers, figures, the 
stars, all nature, indeed, are in unison with the mys- 
teries of religion?'' 

Hist. New York, pp. 63, 64, 79) ; one was allowed to grow in their 
villages to indicate tranquillity (Hazard, Beg. of Penna., v. p. 131). 
The Abenakis honored a particular tree, and suspended offerings 
on its branches (Lafitau). The " sacred pole" of the Omahas 
typified the cosmic tree, the centre of the four winds and the home 
of the thunder bird. (See Alice C. Fletcher in American Anti- 
quarian, September, 1895, and Proc. Am. Assoc. Adv. Science, 1895, 
p. 278.) It was the sacred or " mystery tree" (Dorsey, Siouan 
Oult, pp. 390, 455). The custom of tree burial, or placing the corpse 
in trees, no doubt in some instances bore a mythical relation to 
placing them in the tree of life. It was quite common among the 
western tribes. 



120 THE SYMBOLS OF THE BIRD AND THE SERPENT. 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE SYMBOLS OF THE BIRD AND THE SERPENT. 

Relations of man to the lower animals. — Two of these, the Bird 
and the Serpent, chosen as symbols beyond all others. — The 
Bird throughout America the symbol of the Clouds and Winds. — 
Meaning of certain species. — The symbolic meaning of the Ser- 
pent derived from its mode of locomotion, its poisonous bite, and 
its power of charming. — Usually the symbol of the Lightning 
and the Waters. — The Rattlesnake the symbolic species in 
America. —The war charm.— The god of riches. — Both symbols 
devoid of moral significance. 

T^HOSE stories which the Germans call Thierfabeln, 
wherein the actors are different kinds of brutes, 
seem to have a particular relish for children and un- 
cultivated nations. Who cannot recall with what de- 
light he nourished his childish fancy on the pranks of 
Reynard the Fox, or the tragic adventures of Little 
Red Riding Hood and the Wolf? Every nation has a 
congeries of such tales, and it is curious to mark how 
the same animal reappears with the same imputed phy- 
siognomy in so many of them. The fox is always 
cunning, the wolf ravenous, the owl gloomy and wise, 
the ass foolish. 

The question has been raised whether such traits 
were at first actually ascribed to animals, or whether 
their introduction in story was intended merely as an 
agreeable figure of speech for classes of men. We can- 
not doubt but that the former was the case. Going back 
to the dawn of civilization, we find these relations not 



ANIMAL WORSHIP. 



121 



as amusing fictions, but as myths, embodying religious 
tenets, and the brute heroes held up as the ancestors 
of mankind, even as rightful claimants of man's prayers 
and praises. 

The effort has been made to trace early faiths to an V 
animal worship exclusively, but it has failed, as must 
all such narrow theories. The idea of the divine ac- 
knowledges no single source in nature. The infinite 
power imminent in all phenomena expresses itself to 
man in all. The form of animal worship called " to- 
temism " prevailed extensively among the American 
Indians, as it did also in Australia. The " totem " was 
the mythical animal after whom the clan or gens was 
named, and from which in the mythic philosophy it 
was genealogically descended. In many legends these 
animal gods created and directed in their course the 
heavenly bodies, and established the institutions of 
human society. 1 

It is probable, however, that the totemic badge had a 
political or social rather than a distinctly religious sig- 
nificance. It was not always an animal, as we find 
snow, ice and water totems as well. 2 Nevertheless, there 
are instances, and abundance of them, where supersti- 
tious honors were paid directly to inferior animals. The 
Lower Creeks, like the ancient Egyptians, venerated the 
alligator, and never destroyed one. 3 The jaguar was 

1 J. W. Powell, Mythology of the North American Indians, pp. 39, 
40. The word totem is from the Algonkin verbal root ot or od, to 
belong to ; hence ote, family, nind otem, my family, etc. Thavenet 
believed it related to teh or oteh, heart, life, soul. Cuoq, Lexigue 
Algonquine, p. 312, and J. H Trumbull, in Am. Philol. Assoc., 1872, 
p. 23. The literature about totemism is so extended that I need 
not quote titles. 

2 C. S. Wake, in the American Antiquarian, 1889, p. 354. 

3 B. Roman, Nat. and Civ. Hist, of Florida, p. 101. 



122 THE SYMBOLS OF THE BIRD AND THE SERPENT. 

worshipped by the Moxos of Bolivia, and they ap- 
pointed as priests those who had escaped from its 
claws. 1 The extensive and mysterious doctrine of Na- 
gualism in Mexico and Central America is based on 
the belief that each individual has a beast as a patron 
and protector, and an adept can assume its form at will. 2 
Man, the paragon of animals, praying to the beast, 
is a spectacle so humiliating that it prompts us to seek 
the explanation of it least degrading to the dignity of 
our race. We must remember that as a hunter the 
primitive man was always matched against the wild 
creatures of the woods, so superior to him in their 
dumb certainty of instinct, their swift motion, their 
muscular force, their permanent and sufficient cloth- 
ing. Their ways were guided by a wit beyond his 
divination, and they gained a living with little toil or 
trouble. They did not mind the darkness so terrible 
to him, but through the night called one to the other 
in a tongue whose meaning he could not fathom, but 
which, he doubted not, was as full of purport as his 
own. 

He did not recognize in himself those god-like qual- 
ities destined to endow him with the royalty of the 
world, while far more clearly than we do he saw the 
sly and strange faculties of his antagonists. They 
were to him, therefore, not inferiors, but equals — even 
superiors. He doubted not that once upon a time he 
had possessed their instinct, they his language, but 
that some necromantic spell had been flung on them 
both to keep them asunder. None but a potent sor- 
cerer could break this charm, but such an one could 

1 A. D'Orbignv, IS Homme Americain, ii. p. 235. 

2 D. G. Brinton, Nagualma, p. 59 (Philadelphia, 1894). 



THE BIRD. 



123 



understand the chants of birds and the howls of 
savage beasts, and on occasion transform himself into 
one or another animal, and course the forest, the air, 
or the waters, as he saw fit. Therefore, it was not the 
beast that he worshipped, but that share of the omni- 
present deity which he thought he perceived under its 
form. 1 

Beyond a]l others, two subdivisions of the animal 
kingdom have so riveted the attention of men by their 
unusual powers, and enter so frequently into the myths 
of every nation of the globe, that a right understanding 
of their symbolic value is an essential preliminary to 
the discussion of the divine legends. They are the 
Bird and the Serpent. We shall not go amiss if we 
seek the reasons of their pre-eminence in the facility 
with which their peculiarities offered sensuous images 
under which to convey the idea of divinity, ever pres- 
ent in the soul of man, ever striving at articulate 
expression. 

The bird has the incomprehensible power of flight ; 
it floats in the atmosphere, it rides on the winds, it 
soars toward heaven where dwell the gods ; its plumage 
is stained with the hues of the rainbow and the sunset; 
its song was man's first hint of music ; it spurns the 
dors that impede his footsteps, and flies proudly over 
the mountains and moors where he toils wearily along. 
He sees no more enviable creature ; he conceives the 
gods and angels must also have wings; and pleases 

1 That these were the real views entertained by the Indians in 
regard to the brute creation, see Heckewelder, Ace. of the Ind. 
Nations, p. 247; Schoolcraft, Ind. Tribes, iii. p. 520. As von den 
Steinen accurately says : — " Wir miissen uns die Grenzen zwischen 
Mensch und Tier vollstandig wegdenken." Naturvolker Zentral 
Braziliens, p. 351 (1894). 



124 THE SYMBOLS OF THE BIRD AND THE SERPENT. 



himself with the fancy that he, too, some day will 
shake off this coil of clay, and rise on pinions to the 
heavenly mansions. All living beings, say the Eski- 
mos, have the faculty of soul (tarrak), but especially 
the birds. 1 

As messengers from the upper world and interpreters 
of its decrees, the flight and the note of birds have 
ever been anxiously observed as omens of grave import. 
" There is one bird especially," remarks the traveller 
Coreal, of the natives of Brazil, " which they regard as 
of good augury. Its mournful chant is heard rather 
by night than day. The savages say it is sent by their 
deceased friends to bring them news from the other 
world, and to encourage them against their enemies." 3 
In Peru and in Mexico there was a College of Augurs, 
corresponding in purpose to the auspices of ancient 
Rome, who practised no other means of divination 
than watching the course and pretending to interpret 
the songs of fowls. 

So natural and so general is such a superstition, and 
so widespread is the respect it still obtains in civilized 
and Christian lands, that it is not worth while to sum- 
mon witnesses to show that it prevailed universally 
among the red race also. What imprinted it with re- 
doubled force on their imagination was the common 
belief that birds were not only divine nuncios, but the 
visible spirits of their departed friends. The Powhatans 
held that a certain small wood bird received the souls 
of their princes at death, and they refrained religiously 
from doing it harm ; 3 while the Aztecs and various 

1 Egede, Nachrichten con Gronland, p. 156. 

2 Voiages aux Indes Occidentales, pt. ii; p. 203 (Amst. 1722). 
8 Beverly, Hist, de la Virginie, liv. iii. chap. viii. 



BIRDS AS WINDS. 



125 



other nations thought that all good people, as a reward 
of merit, were metamorphosed at the close of life into 
feathered songsters of the grove, and in this form passed 
a certain term in the umbrageous bowers of Paradise. 

But the usual meaning of the bird as a symbol looks 
to a different analogy — to that which appears in such 
familiar expressions as "the wings of the wind," "the 
flying clouds." Like the wind, the bird sweeps through 
the aerial spaces, sings in the forest, and rustles on its 
course ; like the cloud, it floats in mid-air and casts its 
shadow on the earth ; like the lightning, it darts from 
heaven to earth to strike its unsuspecting prey. 

These tropes were truths to savage nations, and led 
on by that law of language which forced them to con- 
ceive everything as animate or inanimate, itself the 
product of a deeper law of thought which urges us to 
ascribe life to whatever has motion, they found no ani- 
mal so appropriate for their purpose here as the bird. 
Therefore the Algonkins say that birds always make 
the winds, that they create the water spouts, and that 
the clouds are the spreading and agitation of their 
wings j 1 the Navajos, that at each cardinal point stands 
a white swan, who is the spirit of the blasts which blow 
from its dwelling ; and the Dakotas, that in the west is 
the house of the Wakinyan, the Flyers, the breezes that 
send the storms. 

So, also, they frequently explain the thunder as 
the sound of the cloud-bird flapping his wings, and 
the lightning as the fire that flashes from his tracks, 
like the sparks which the buffalo scatters when he 
scours over a stony plain. 2 The thunder cloud was 

1 Schoolcraft, Ind. Tribes, v. p. 420. 

2 Mrs. Eastman, Legends of the Sioux, p. 191 (New York, 1849). 
This is a trustworthy and meritorious book, which can be said of 



126 THE SYMBOLS OF THE BIRD AND THE SERPENT. 

also a bird to the Caribs, and they imagined it pro- 
duced the lightning in true Carib fashion by blow- 
ing it through a hollow reed, just as they to this day 
hurl their poisoned darts. 1 Most of the natives of the 
northwest coast explain the thunder as the flapping of 
the wings of a giant bird, the lightning as the flash of 
his eye. Tupis, Iroquois, Athapascas, for certain, per- 
haps all the families of the red race, were the subject 
pursued, partook of this persuasion ; among them all it 
would probably be found that the same figures of speech 
were used in comparing clouds and winds with the 
feathered species as among us, with, however, this most 
significant difference, that whereas among us they are 
figures and nothing more, to them they expressed what 
they considered literal facts. 

How important a symbol did they thus become ! 
For the winds, the clouds, producing the thunder and 
the changes that take place in the ever-shifting pano- 
rama of the sky, the rain bringers, lords of the seasons, 
and not this only, but the primary type of the soul, 
the life, the breath of man and the world, these in their 
role in mythology are second to nothing. Therefore 
as the symbol of these august powers, as messenger 
of the gods, and as the embodiment of departed spirits, 
no one will be surprised if they find the bird figure most 
prominently in the myths of the red race. 

Sometimes some particular species seems to have 
been chosen as most befitting these dignified attributes. 
No citizen of the United States will be apt to assert that 

very few of the older collections of Indian traditions. They were 
collected during a residence of seven years in our northwestern 
territories, and are usually verbally faithful to the native narra- 
tions. 

1 De la Borde, Religion des Caraibes, p. 7 (Paris, 1674). 



THE EAGLE. 



127 



their instinct led the indigenes of our territory astray 
when they chose with nigh unanimous consent the 
great American eagle as that fowl beyond all others 
proper to typify the supreme control and the most ad- 
mirable qualities. Its feathers composed the war flag 
of the Creeks, and its images carved in wood or its 
stuffed skin surmounted their council lodges (Bar- 
tram) ; none but an approved warrior dared wear it 
among the Cherokees (Timberlake) ; and the Dakotas 
allowed such an honor only to him who had first 
touched the corpse of the common foe (De Smet). 

The Natchez and Akanzas seem to have paid it even 
religious honors, and to have installed it in their most 
sacred shrines (Sieur de Tonty, Du Pratz) ; and ver} r 
clearly it was not so much for ornament as for a mark 
of dignity and a recognized sign of worth that its 
plumes were so highly prized. 

The natives of Zuni, in New Mexico, employed four 
of its feathers to represent the four winds in their in- 
vocations for rain (Whipple, Cushing), and probably it 
was the eagle which a tribe in upper California (the Acag- 
chemem) worshipped under the name Panes. Father 
Geronimo Boscana describes it as a species of vulture, 
and relates that one of them was immolated yearly, 
with solemn ceremony, in the temple of each village. 
Not a drop of blood was spilled, and the body burned. 
Yet with an amount of faith that staggered even the 
Romanist, the natives maintained and believed that it 
was the same individual bird they sacrificed each year ; 
more than this, that the same bird was slain by each 
of the villages. 1 

1 Acc. of the Inds. of California, ch. ix. Eng. trans, by Robinson 
(New York, 1847). The Acagchemem were a branch of the Netela 



128 THE SYMBOLS OF THE BIRD AND THE SERPENT. 



The owl was regarded by Nahuas, Quiches, Mayas, 
Peruvians, Araucanians, and Algonkins as sacred to the 
lord of the dead. " The Owl " was one of the names 
of the Mexican Pluto, whose realm was in the north, 1 
and the wind from that quarter was supposed by the 
Chipeways to be made by the owl, as the south by the 
butterfly. 2 As the bird of night, it was the fit emissary 
of him who rules the darkness of the grave. 

Something in the looks of the creature as it sapiently 
stares and blinks in the light, or perhaps that it works 
while others sleep, got for it the character of wisdom. 
So the Creek priests carried with them as the badge of 
their learned profession the stuffed skin of one of these 
birds, thus modestly hinting their erudite turn of mind. 3 
The Arickarees placed one above the "medicine stone" 
in their council lodge, and the culture hero of the Mon- 
quis of California was represented, like Pallas Athene, 
having one as his inseparable companion (Venegas). 

As the associate of the god of light and air, and as 
the antithesis therefore of the owl, the Nahuas rever- 
enced a bird called quetzal, the beautiful Trogon splendens. 
Its plumage is of a bright green hue, and was prized 

tribe of Shoshonees who dwelt near the mission San Juan Capis- 
trano (see Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Sprache, etc. , p. 548 ; 
Brinton, The American Race, p. 123). 

1 Called in the Aztec tongue Tecolotl, night owl ; literally, the 
stone scorpion. The transfer was mythological. The Christians 
prefixed to this word tlaca, man, and thus formed a name for Sa- 
tan, which Prescott and others have translated "rational owl." 
No such deity existed in ancient Anahuac (see Buschmann, Die 
Voelkerund Sprachen Neu Mexico' s, p. 262). 

2 Schoolcraft, Ind. Tribes, v. p. 420. 

3 William Bartram, Travels, p. 504. Columbus found the natives 
of the Antilles wearing tunics with figures of these birds embroi- 
dered upon them. Prescott, Conq. of Mexico, i. p. 58, note. 



THE DOVE. 



129 



extravagantly as a decoration. It was one of the sym- 
bols and part of the name of Quetzalcoatl, their mythi- 
cal civilizer, and the prince of all sorts of singing birds, 
myriads of whom were fabled to accompany him on 
his journeys. 

The tender and hallowed associations that have so 
widely shielded the dove from harm, which for instance 
Xenophon mentions among the ancient Persians, were 
not altogether unknown to the tribes of the New World. 
Neither the Hurons nor the Mandans would kill them, 
for they believed they were inhabited by the souls of 
the departed/ and it is said, but on less satisfactory 
authority, that they enjoyed similar immunity among 
the Mexicans. Their soft and plaintive note and sober 
russet hue widely enlisted the sympathy of man, and 
linked them with his more tender feelings. 

" As wise as the serpent, as harmless as the dove," is 
an antithesis that might pass current in any human 
language. They are the emblems of complementary, 
often contrasted qualities. Of all animals, the serpent 
is the most mysterious. No wonder it possessed the 
fancy of the observant child of nature. Alone of crea- 
tures it swiftly progresses without feet, fins, or wings. 
" There be three things which are too wonderful for me, 
yea, four which I know not," said wise King Solomon; ^ 
and the chief of them were, " the way of an eagle in 
the air, the way of a serpent upon a rock." 

Its sinuous course is like to nothing so much as that 
of a winding river, which therefore we often call ser- 
pentine. The name Serpentine is borne by an English 
stream ; a river in British America is called the Ser- 

1 Bel. de la Nouv. France, An. 1636, ch. ix. Catlin, Letters and 
Notes, Lett. 22. 

9 



130 THE SYMBOLS OF THE BIRD AND THE SERPENT. 



pent ; and in Arcadia the Greeks had the Ophis. So 
with the Indians. Kennebec, a stream in Maine, 
in the Algonkin means snake, and Antietam, the creek 
in Maryland of tragic celebrity, in an Iroquois dialect 
has the same significance. 

How easily would savages, construing the figure lit- 
erally, make the serpent a river or water god ! Many 
species being amphibious would confirm the idea. A 
lake watered by innumerable tortuous rills wriggling 
into it, is well calculated for the fabled abode of the 
king of the snakes. Thus doubtless it happened that 
both Algonquins and Iroquois had a myth that in the 
great lakes dwelt a monster serpent, of irascible temper, 
who unless appeased by meet offerings raised a tempest 
or broke the ice beneath the feet of those venturing on 
his domain, and swallowed them down. 1 

The rattlesnake was the species almost exclusively 
honored by the red race. 2 It is slow to attack, but 
venomous in the extreme, and possesses the power of 
the basilisk to attract within reach of its spring small 
birds and squirrels, Probably this much talked of fas- 
cination is nothing more than by its presence near their 

1 Bel. de la Nouv. France, An. 1648, p. 75 ; Cusic, Trad. Hist, of 
the Six Nations, pt. iii. The latter is the work of a native Tuscarora 
chief. It is republished in Schoolcraft's Indian Tribes, and is 
commented on by Mrs. E. A. Smith in her Myths of the Iroquois, in 
Eep. Bur. Ethnology for 1880-81. 

2 In North American art, both modern and that from the mounds 
and shell-heaps, ' ' the rattlesnake is the variety almost univer- 
sally represented. " W. H. Holmes, Art in Shell of the Ancient Ameri- 
cans in 2d An. Eep. of the Bureau of Ethnology, p. 289. In the 
Mayan manuscripts and carvings it is the only serpent represented 
as a symbol. Its name in their language is Serpent King, ahau 
can, and to it are assigned the four sacred colors. Brinton, Primer 
of Mayan Hieroglyphics, p. 75. 



SNAKE- CHARMING. 



131 



nests to incite them to attack, and to hazard near and 
nearer approaches to their enemy in hope to force him 
to retreat, until once within the compass of his fell 
swoop they fall victims to their temerity. I have often 
watched a cat act thus. Whatever explanation may be 
received, the fact cannot be questioned, and is ever at- 
tributed by the unreflecting to some diabolic spell cast 
upon them by the animal. 

They have the same strange susceptibility to the in- 
fluence of rhythmic sounds as the vipers, in which lies 
the secret of snake charming. Most of the Indian ma- 
gicians were familiar with this singularity. They em- 
ployed it with telling effect to put beyond question 
their intercourse with the unseen powers, and to vindi- 
cate the potency of their own guardian spirits who 
thus enabled them to handle with impunity the most 
venomous of reptiles. 1 

The well-known antipathy of these serpents to certain 
plants, for instance the hazel, which bound around the 
ankles is an alleged protection against their attacks, and 
perhaps some antidote to their poison used by the 
magicians, led to their frequent introduction in relig- 
ious ceremonies. Such exhibitions must have made a 
profound impression on the spectators, and redounded 
in a corresponding degree to the glory of the per- 
former. " Who is a manito ?" asks the mystic meda 

1 For example, in Brazil, Miiller, Amer. Urrelig. , p. 277 ; in Yu- 
catan, Cogolludo, Hist, de Yucathan, lib. iv. cap. 4 ; among the 
Western Algonkins, Hennepin, Decouverte dans V Amer. Septen., chap. 
33. The literature relating to serpent worship in America is very 
rich. I mention Squier, The Serpent Symbol in America, 1851 ; 
Bourke, The Snake-dance of the Moquis, 1884, as important. Mrs. 
M. C. Stevenson, J. W. Fewkes, F. C. Hodge, and F. H. Cushing 
have written fully on the snake ceremonies of the Pueblo Indians. 



132 THE SYMBOLS OF THE BIRD AND THE SERPENT. 



chant of the Algonkins. " He," is the reply, " he who 
walketh with a serpent, walking on the ground, he is a 
manito." 1 

The intimate alliance of this symbol with the mys- 
teries of religion, the darkest riddles of the Unknown, 
is reflected in their language, and also in that of their 
neighbors, the Dakotas, in both of which the same 
words manito, wakan, which express the supernatural 
in its broadest sense, are also used as terms for this 
species of animals ! This strange fact is not without 
a parallel, for in both Arabic and Hebrew, the word for 
serpent has many derivatives, meaning to have inter- 
course with demoniac powers, to practice magic, and to 
consult familiar spirits. 2 

The pious founder of the Moravian brotherhood, the 
Count of Zinzendorf, owed his life on one occasion to 
this deeply rooted superstition. He was visiting a 
missionary station among the Shawnees, in the Wyo- 
ming valley. Recent quarrels with the whites had 
unusually irritated this unruly folk, and they resolved 
to make him their first victim. After he had retired 
to his secluded hut, several of their braves crept upon 
him, and cautiously lifting the corner of the lodge, 
peered in. The venerable man was seated before a 

1 Narrative of the Captivity and Adventures of John Tanner, p. 356. 

2 See Gallatin's vocabularies in the second volume of the 
Trans. Am. Antiq. Soc. under the word Snake. In Arabic dzann is 
serpent ; dzanan, a spirit, a soul, or the heart. So in Hebrew 
nachas, serpent, has many derivatives signifying to hold inter- 
course with demons, to conjure, a magician, etc. See Noldeke in 
the Zeitschrift fur Voelkcrpsychologie und Sprachenviissenschaft, i. 
p. 413. The dialects of the Algonquin referred to are the Shaw- 
nee and the Saukie. For similar relations in Iroquois and Dakota 
see Hewitt, Amer. Anthropologist, 1889, p. 179 ; Dorsey, Siouan 
Cults, p. 366. 



THE LIFE-SYMBOL. 



133 



little fire, a volume of the Scriptures on his knees, lost 
in the perusal of the sacred words. While they gazed, 
a huge rattlesnake, unnoticed by him, trailed across 
his feet, and rolled itself into a coil in the comfortable 
warmth of the fire. Immediately the would-be mur- 
derers forsook their purpose and noiselessly retired, 
convinced that this was indeed a man of God. 

A more unique trait than any of these is its habit of 
casting its skin every spring, thus as it were renewing 
its life. In temperate latitudes the rattlesnake, like 
the leaves and flowers, retires from sight during the 
cold season, and at the return of kindly warmth puts 
on a new and brilliant coat. Its cast-off skin was 
carefully collected by the savages and stored in the 
medicine bag, as possessing remedial powers of high 
excellence. Itself thus immortal, they thought it could 
impart its vitality to them. So when the mother was 
travailing in sore pain, and the danger neared that the 
child would be born silent, the attending women has- 
tened to catch some serpent and give her its blood to 
drink. 1 

It is well known that in ancient art this animal was 
the symbol of iEsculapius, and to this day Professor 
Agassiz found that the Maues Indians, who live between 
the upper Tapajos and Madeira Rivers, in Brazil, when- 
ever they assign a form to any " remedio," give it that 
of a serpent. 2 And among the Lenape Indians their 
most famous doctors were called " Big Snakes." 3 

Probably this notion that it was annually rejuve- 
nated led to its adoption as a symbol of Time among 

1 Alexander Henry, Travels, p. 117. 

2 Bost. Med. and Surg. Journal, vol. 76, p. 21. 

3 William Nelson, The Indians of New Jersey, p. 53 (1894). 
After Wassenaer, 



134 THE SYMBOLS OF THE BIRD AND THE SERPENT. 

the Nahuas ; or, perchance, as they reckoned by suns, 
and the figure of the sun, a circle, corresponds to 
nothing animate but a serpent with its tail in its mouth, 
eating itself, as it were, this may have been its origin. 
Either of these is more likely than that the symbol 
arose from the recondite reflection that time is " never 
ending, still beginning, still creating, still destroying," 
as has been suggested. 

A natural object with so many strange traits as I 
have mentioned would necessarily as a symbol be as- 
sociated with various conceptions in primitive religions ; 
therefore it would be a manifest error to explain the 
serpent symbol by any one interpretation. But that it 
has one which is prominent beyond others in America 
is unquestionable. It is the same which a number of 
years ago the German writer Schwartz proved to be so 
prevalent in German and Greek mythology. 

He demonstrated that a meaning which recurs very 
frequently in this emblem is the lightning; a meaning 
drawn from the close analogy which the serpent in its 
motion, its quick spring, and mortal bite, has to the zig- 
zag course, the rapid flash, and sudden stroke of the 
electric discharge. He even went so far as to imagine 
that by this resemblance the serpent first acquired the 
veneration of men. But this was an extravagance not 
supported by more thorough research. 

He has further shown with great aptness of illustra- 
tion how, by its dread effects, the lightning, the heav- 
enly serpent, became the god of terror and the opponent 
of such heroes as Beowulf, St. George, Thor, Perseus, 
and others, mythical representations of the fearful war 
of the elements in the thunder storm ; how from its 
connection with the advancing summer and fertilizing 
showers it bore the opposite character of the deity of 



THE LIGHTNING- SERPENT. 



185 



fruitfulness, riches, and plenty; how, as occasionally 
kindling the woods where it strikes, it was associated 
with the myths of the descent of fire from heaven, and 
as in popular imagination where it falls it scatters the 
thunderbolts in all directions, the flint-stones which 
flash when struck were supposed to be these frag- 
ments, and was one source of the stone worship so fre- 
quent in the old world ; and how, finally, the prevalent 
myth of a king of serpents crowned with a glittering 
stone or wearing a horn is but another type of the 
lightning. 1 

Without accepting unreservedly all these conclusions, 
I shall show how correct they are in the main when 
applied to the myths of the New World, and thereby 
illustrate how the red race is of one blood and one faith 
with our own remote ancestors in heathen Europe and 
Central Asia. 

It asks no elaborate effort of the imagination to liken 
the lightning to a serpent. It does not require any 
remarkable acuteness to guess the conundrum of Schil- 
ler : — 

' * Unter alien Schlangen ist eine 
Auf Erden nicht gezeugt, 
Mit der an Schnelle keine, 

An Wuth sich keine vergleicht." 

When Father Buteux was a missionary among the 
Algonkins in 1637, he asked them their opinion of the 
nature of lightning. " It is an immense serpent," they 
replied, " which the Manito is vomiting forth ; you 
can see the twists and folds that he leaves on the 
trees which he strikes ; and underneath such trees we 

1 Schwarz, Der Ursprung der Mythologie dargelegt an Griechischer 
unci Deutsche)- Sage : passim. 



136 THE SYMBOLS OF THE BIRD AND THE SERPENT. 



have often found huge snakes." " Here is a novel phi- 
losophy for you !" exclaims the Father. 1 

So the Shawnees called the thunder " the hissing of 
the great snake \ n and Tlaloc, the Aztec thunder god, 
held in his hand a serpent of gold to represent the 
lightning. 3 For this reason the Caribs spoke of the god 
of the thunder storm as a great serpent dwelling in the 
fruit forests, 4 and in the Quiche legends other names 
for Hurakan, the hurricane or thunder-storm, are the 
Strong Serpent, He who hurls below, referring to the 
lightning. 5 

Among the Hurons, in 1648, the Jesuits found a 
legend current that there existed somewhere a monster 
serpent called Onniont, who wore on his head a horn 
that pierced rocks, trees, hills, in short everything he 
encountered. Whoever could get a piece of this horn 
was a fortunate man, for it was a sovereign charm and 
bringer of good luck. The Hurons confessed that none 
of them had had the good hap to find the monster and 
break his horn, nor indeed had they any idea of his 
whereabouts ; but their neighbors, the Algonkins, fur- 
nished them at times small fragments for a large con- 
sideration. 6 

Clearly the myth had been taught them for venal 
purposes by their trafficking visitors. Now among the 
Algonkins, the Shawnee tribe did more than all others 

1 Bel. de la Nouv. France; An. 1637, p. 53, and Peter Jones, 
Hist, of the Ojibway Indians, pp. 86, 87. 

2 James A. Jones, Traditions of the North American Indians, p. 21. 
A work of small merit, but presenting a few valuable facts. 

3 Torquemada, Monarquia Indiana, lib. vi. cap. 37. 

4 De la Borde, ubi supra. 

5 Le Livre Sacre des Quiches, p. 3. 

6 Rel de la Nouv. France, 1648, p. 75. 



THE RATTLESNAKE. 137 

combined to introduce and carry about religious legends "» 
and ceremonies. From the earliest times they seem to 
have had peculiar aptitude for the ecstasies, deceits, and 
fancies that made up the spiritual life of their associates. 
Their constantly roving life brought them in contact 
with the myths of many nations ; and it is extremely 
probable that they first brought the tale of the horned 
serpent from the Creeks and Cherokees. It figured 
extensively in the legends of both these tribes. 

The latter related that once upon a time among the 
glens of their mountains dwelt the prince of rattle- 
snakes. Obedient subjects guarded his palace, and on 
his head glittered in place of a crown a gem of mar- 
vellous magic virtues. Many warriors and magicians 
tried to get possession of this precious talisman, but 
were destroyed by the poisoned fangs of its defenders. 
Finally, one more inventive than the rest hit upon the 
bright idea of encasing himself in leather, and by this 
device marched unharmed through the hissing and 
snapping court, tore off the shining jewel, and bore it 
in triumph to his nation. They preserved it with re- 
ligious care, brought it forth on state occasions with 
solemn ceremony, and about the middle of the last 
century, when Captain Timberlake penetrated to their 
towns, told him its origin. 1 

The charm which the Creeks presented their young 
men when they set out on the war path was of very 
similar character. It was composed of the bones of 
the panther and the horn of the fabulous horned snake. 
According to a legend taken down by an unimpeach- 
able authority toward the close of the last century, the 

1 Memoirs of Lieut. Henry Timberlake, p. 48 (London, 1765). 
This little book gives an account of the Cherokees at an earlier 
date than is elsewhere found. 



138 THE SYMBOLS OF THE BIRD AND THE SERPENT. 



great snake dwelt in the waters ; the old people went 
to the brink and sang the sacred songs. The monster 
rose to the surface. The sages recommenced the mystic 
chants. He rose a little out of the water. Again they 
repeated the songs. This time he showed his horns, 
and they cut one off. Still a fourth time did they sing, 
and as he rose to listen cut off the remaining horn. A 
fragment of these in the " war physic ' ' protected from 
inimical arrows and gave success in the conflict. 1 

The myth recurs where no historical connection can 
be presumed. In the central region of the volanic 
island of Dominica is a deep vale, wherein, alleged the 
Carib natives, dwelt a monstrous serpent; "upon its 
head is a sparkling stone like a carbuncle, which is 
commonly covered with a thin moving skin, like a 
man's eyelid; but when he drank and sported himself 
in that deep bottom, it was plainly discovered, the 
rocks about the place receiving a wondrous lustre from 
the fire issuing out of that precious crown." This was 
probably the great serpent, Racumon, brother of Sava- 
con, who, according to De la Borde, these islanders 
believed to be the lord of the hurricane and the maker 
of the winds. 2 

In these myths, which attribute good fortune to the 
horn of the snake, that horn which pierces trees and 
rocks, w r hich rises from the waters, which glitters as a 
gem, which descends from the ravines of the moun- 
tains, we shall not overstep the bounds of prudent 
reasoning if we see the thunderbolt, sign of the fructi- 
fying rain, symbol of the strength of the lightning, 

1 Hawkins, Sketch of the Creek Country, p. 80. 

2 Blomes, State of His Majesties Territories in America, p. 73 
(London, 1687) ; De la Borde, Relation des Caraibes, p. 7 (Paris, 
1674). 



THE THUNDER BIRD. 



139 



horn of the heavenly serpent. They are obviously 
meteorological in their original meaning, though this 
is often obscured and lost to sight in later renderings. 

When in later Algonkin tradition the hero Michabo 
appears in conflict with the shining prince of serpents 
who lives in the lake and floods the earth with its 
waters, and destroys the reptile with a dart, and fur- 
ther when the conqueror clothes himself with the skin 
of his foe and drives the rest of the serpents to the 
south, where in that latitude the lightnings are last 
seen in the autumn; 1 or when in the traditional history 
of the Iroquois we hear of another great horned serpent 
rising out of the lake and preying upon the people until 
a similar hero-god destroys it with a thunderbolt, 2 we 
cannot be wrong in rejecting any historical or ethical 
interpretation, and in constructing them as allegories 
which at first represented the atmospheric changes 
which accompany the advancing seasons and the ripen- 
ing harvests. They are narratives conveying under 
agreeable personifications the tidings of that unending 
combat which the Dakotas said was being waged with 
varying fortunes by Unktahe against Wauhkeon, the 
God of Waters against the Thunder Bird. 3 They are 
the same stories which in the old world have been 
elaborated into the struggles of Ormuzd and Ahriman, 

1 Schoolcraft, Algic Researches, i. p. 179 sq. ; compare ii. p. 117. 

2 Morgan, League of the Iroquois, p. 159 ; Cusic, Trad. Hist, of the 
Six Nations, p. ii. 

3 Mrs. Eastman, Legends of the Sioux, pp. 161, 212. In this 
explanation I depart from Prof. Schwarz, who, collecting various 
legends almost identical with these of the Indians (with which he 
was not acquainted), interpreted the precious crown or horn to be 
the summer sun, brought forth by the early vernal lightning. 
Ursprung der Mythologie, p. 27, note. It is needless to refer to the 
numerous later writers who have developed these views. 



140 THE SYMBOLS OF THE BIRD AND THE SERPENT. 



of Thor and Midgard, of St. George and the Dragon, 
and a thousand others. 

Yet it were but a narrow theory of natural religion 
that allowed no other meaning to these myths. Many 
another elemental warfare is being waged around us, 
and applications as various as nature herself lie in 
these primitive creations of the human fancy. We may 
find reason to prefer one or another in a given in- 
stance ; but the maxim to be remembered is that there 
was never any moral, never any historical purport in 
them in the infancy of religious life. 

In snake charming as a proof of proficiency in magic, 
and in the symbol of the lightning, which brings both 
fire and water, which in its might controls victory in 
war, and in its frequency, plenteous crops at home, lies 
most of the secret of the serpent symbol. 

As the " war physic " among the tribes of the United 
States was a fragment of a serpent, and as thus signi- 
fying his incomparable skill in war, the Iroquois repre- 
sent their mythical king Atatarho clothed in nothing 
but black snakes, so that when he wished to don a new 
suit he simply drove away one set and ordered an- 
other to take their places, 1 so, by a precisely similar 
mental process, the myth of the Nahuas assigns as a 
mother to their war god Huitzilopochtli, Coatlicue, the 
robe of serpents ; her dwelling place Coatepec, the hill 
of serpents ; and at her lying-in say that she brought 
forth a serpent. Her son's image was surrounded by 
serpents, his sceptre was in the shape of one, his great 
drum was of serpents' skins, and his statue rested on 
four vermiform caryatides. 

As the emblem of the fertilizing summer showers the 

1 Cusic, Traditional History, pt. ii. 



THE TREE OF LIFE. 



141 



lightning serpent was the god of fruitfulness. Born in 
the atmospheric waters, it was an appropriate attribute 
of the ruler of the winds. But we have already seen 
that the winds were often spoken of as great birds. 
Hence the union of these two emblems in such names 
as Quetzalcoatl, Gucumatz, Kukulkan, all titles of the 
god of the air in the languages of Central America, all 
signifying the " Bird-serpent.' ' 

The " masters " in native magic craft explained to 
the bishop Nunez de la Vega that this compound sym- 
bolism was to represent "the snake with feathers which 
moves in the waters," that is, the heavenly waters, the 
clouds and the rains. 1 

Frequently, therefore, in the codices and carvings 
from Mexico and Central America we find the tree of 
life, in the form of the cross, symbolizing the four car- 
dinal points and their associations, connected with these 
symbols of the serpent and the bird ; as in the cele- 
brated cross of Palenque, which is surmounted by the 
quetzal bird and perhaps rests on a serpent mask. 

Quetzalcoatl, called also Yolcuat, the rattlesnake, was 
no less intimately associated with serpents than with 
birds. The entrance to his temple at Mexico repre- 
sented the jaws of one of these reptiles, and he finally 
disappeared in the province of Coatzacoalco, the hiding 
place of the serpent, sailing towards the east in a bark 
of serpents' skins. All this refers to his power over the 
lightning serpent, and over that which it typified. 

He was also said to be the god of riches and the 
patron consequently of merchants. For with the sum- 
mer lightning come the harvest and the ripening fruits, 
come riches and traffic. Moreover " the golden color 

1 Nunez de la Vega, Constituciones Diocesanas de Chiapas, p. 9. 



142 THE SYMBOLS OF THE BIRD AND THE SERPENT. 

of the liquid fire," as Lucretius expresses it, naturally- 
led where this metal was known, to its being deemed 
the product of the lightning. Thus originated many 
of those tales of a dragon who watches a treasure in 
the earth, and of a serpent who is the dispenser of 
riches, such as were found among the Greeks and An- 
cient Germans. 

So it was in Peru, where the god of riches was wor- 
shipped under the image of a rattlesnake horned and 
hairy, with a tail of gold. It was said to have de- 
scended from the heavens in the sight of all the people, 
and to have been seen by the whole army of the 
Inca. 1 Whether it was in reference to it, or as em- 
blems of their prowess, that the Incas themselves 
chose as their arms two serpents with their tails inter- 
laced, is uncertain ; possibly one for each of these sig- 
nifications. 

Because the rattlesnake, the lightning serpent, is thus 
connected with the food of man, and itself seems never 
to die but annually to renew its youth, the Algonkins 
called it "grandfather" and "king of snakes;" they 
feared to injure it; they believed it could grant pros- 
perous breezes, or raise disastrous tempests; crowned 
with the lunar crescent it was the constant symbol of 
life in their picture writing ; and in the meda signs the 
mythical grandmother of mankind me suk hum me go 
Jcwa was indifferently represented by an old woman or 
a serpent. 2 For like reasons Cihuacoatl, the Serpent 

1 "I have examined many Indians in reference to these details," 
says the narrator, an Augustin monk writing in 1554, ' ' and they 
have all confirmed them as eye-witnesses ' ' (Lettre sur les /Supersti- 
tions du Perou, p. 106, ed. Ternaux-Compans. This document is 
very valuable). 

2 Narrative of John Tanner, p. 355 ; Henry, Travels, p. 176. 



THE SERPENT SYMBOL. 



143 



Woman, in the myths of the Nahuas was also called 
Tonantzin, our mother. 1 

The serpent symbol in America has, however, met 
with frequent misinterpretation. It had such an omin- 
ous significance in Christian art. and one which chimed 
so well with the favorite proverb of the early mission- 
aries — " the gods of the heathens are devils " — that 
wherever they saw a carving or picture of a serpent 
they at once recognized the sign manual of the Prince 
of Darkness, and inscribed the fact in their note-books 
as proof positive of their cherished theory. After 
going over the whole ground, I am convinced that none 
of the tribes of the red race attached to this symbol 
any ethical significance whatever, and that as employed If 
to express atmospheric phenomena, and the recogni- 
tion of divinity in natural occurrences, it far more fre- 
quently typified what was favorable and agreeable than 
the reverse. 

1 Torquemada, Monarquia Indiana, lib. vi. cap. 31. 



144 MYTHS OF WATER, FIRE AND THUNDER-STORM. 



CHAPTER V. 

THE MYTHS OF WATER, FIRE, AND THE 
THUNDER-STORM. 

Water the oldest element. — Its use in purification. — Holy Water. 
—The Bite of Baptism. — The Water of Life. — Its symbols. — 
The Vase. — The Moon. — The latter the goddess of love and 
agriculture, but also of sickness, night, and pain. — Often repre- 
sented by a dog. — Fire worship under the form of Sun worship. 
— The perpetual fire. — The new fire. — Burning the dead. - The 
worship of the passions, and the reciprocal principle of Mature. 
— Dualism of Deities. — American goddesses. — Phallic worship 
in America. — Synthesis of the worship of Fire, Water, and the 
Winds in the Thunder-storm, personified as Haokah, Tupa, 
Catequil, Contici, Heno, Tlaloc, Mixcoatl, and other deities, 
many of them triune. 

T^HE primitive man was a brute in everything but the 
^- susceptibility to culture ; the chief market of his 
time was to sleep, fight, and feed : his bodily comfort 
alone had any importance in his eyes ; and his gods 
were nothing, unless they touched him here. Cold, 
hunger, thirst, these were the hounds that were ever on 
his track ; these were the fell powers he saw constantly 
snatching away his fellows, constantly aiming their in- 
visible shafts at himself. Fire, food, and water were 
the gods that fought on his side ; they were the chief 
figures in his pantheon, his kindliest, perhaps his ear- 
liest, divinities. 

With a nearly unanimous voice mythologies assign 
the priority to Water. It was the first of all things, the 



THE PRIMEVAL OCEAN. 



145 



parent of all things. Even the gods themselves were 
born of water, said the Greeks and the Aztecs. Cos- 
mogonies reach no further than the primeval ocean 
that rolled its shoreless waves through a timeless night. 

"Omnia pontus erant, deerant quoque litora ponto." 

Earth, sun, stars, lay concealed in its fathomless 
abysses. (( All of us," ran the Mexican baptismal for- 
mula, " are children of Chalchihuitlycue, Goddess of 
Water;" and the like was said by the Peruvians of 
Mama Cocha, by the Botocudos of Taru, by the natives 
of Darien of Dobayba, by the Iroquois of Ataensic — 
all of them mothers of mankind, all personifications 
of water. From the foam-cap of the primal ocean, 
said the Zuflis, impregnated by the All-father, pro- 
ceeded the first of beings. 1 

How account for such unanimity ? Not by suppos- 
ing some ancient intercourse between remote tribes, 
but by the uses of water as the originator and supporter, 
the essential prerequisite of life. Leaving aside the 
analogy presented by the motherly waters which nour- 
ish the unborn child, nor emphasizing how indispensa- 
ble it is as a beverage, the many offices this element 
performs in nature lead easily to the supposition that 
it must have preceded all else. By quenching thirst, 
it quickens life ; as the dew and the rain, it feeds the 
plant, and when withheld the seed perishes in the 
ground and forests and flowers alike wither away ; as 
the fountain, the river, and the lake, it enriches the 
valleys, offers safe retreats, and provides store of fishes; 
as the ocean, it presents the most fitting type of the 
infinite. It cleanses, it purifies ; it produces, it pre- 



1 F. H. Cushing, Zkni Creation 3Iyths, p. 381. 
10 



146 MYTHS OF WATER, FIRE AND THUNDER-STORM. 

serves. " Bodies, unless dissolved, cannot act," is a 
maxim of the earliest chemistry. Very plausibly, there- 
fore, was it assumed as the source of all things. 

The adoration of streams, springs, and lakes, or rather 
of the spirits their rulers, prevailed everywhere : some- 
times avowedly because they provided food, as was the 
case with the Moxos, who called themselves children of 
the lake or river on which their village was, and were 
afraid to migrate lest their parent should be vexed ; l 
sometimes because they were the means of irrigation, 
as in Peru ; or on more general mythical grounds. A 
grove by a fountain is in all nature-worship a ready- 
made shrine of the sylphs who live in its limpid waves 
and chatter mysteriously in its shallows. On such a 
spot in our Gulf States one rarely fails to find the sac- 
rificial mound of the ancient inhabitants, and on such 
the natives of Central America were wont to erect their 
altars (Ximenes). 

Lakes are the natural centres of civilization. Like 
the lacustrine villages which the Swiss erected in ante- 
historic times, like ancient Venice, the city of Mexico 
was first built on piles in a lake, and for the same rea- 
son — protection from attack. Security once obtained, 
growth and power followed. Thus we can trace the 
earliest rays of Aztec civilization rising from Lake Tez- 
cuco, of the Peruvian from Lake Titicaca, of the Muys- 
cas from Lake Guatavita. These are the centres of 
legendary cycles. Their waters were hallowed by 
venerable reminiscences. From the depths of Titicaca 
rose Viracocha, mythical civilizer of Peru. Guatavita 
was the bourne of many a foot-sore pilgrim in the an- 
cient empire of the Zac. Once a year the high priest 

i A. D' Orbigny , IJ Homme Americain, i. p. 240. 



HOLY WATER. 



147 



bore the collective offerings of the multitude into its 
waves, and anointed with oils and glittering with gold 
dust, dived deap in its midst, professing to hold com- 
munion with the goddess who there had her home. 1 

Not only does the life of man but his well-being de- 
pends on water. As an ablution it invigorates him 
bodily and mentally. No institution was in higher 
honor among the North American Indians than the 
sweat-bath followed by the cold douche. It was popu- 
lar not only as a remedy in any and every disease, but 
as a preliminary to a council or an important transac- 
tion. Its real value in cold climates is proved by the 
sustained fondness for the Russian bath in the north 
of Europe. 

The Indians, however, with their usual superstition, 
attributed its good effects to some mysterious healing 
power in water itself. Therefore, when the patient was 
not able to undergo the usual process, or when his 
medical attendant was above the vulgar and routine 
practice of his profession, it was administered on the 
infinitesimal system. The quack muttered a formula 
over a gourd filled from a neighboring spring and sprin- 
kled it on his patient, or washed the diseased part, or 
sucked out the evil spirit and blew it into a bowl of 
water, and then scattered the liquid on the fire or earth. 2 

At appointed seasons the Tupi priests assembled the 
people, filled large jars with water, spake certain words 
of power over them, and dipping in palm branches 
sprinkled their hearers. 3 In the elaborate ritual of the 
Mayan priests the aspergillum, with which to asperge 

1 E. Kestrepo, Aborigines de Columbia, cap. ii. 

2 Narrative of Oceola Nikkanoche, Prince of Econchatti, p. 141 ; 
Schoolcraft, Ind. Tribes, iv. p. 650. 

3 Ives d' Evreux, Histoire de Maragnan, p. 306. 



148 MYTHS OF WATER, FIRE AXD THUNDER-STORM. 



the sacred objects and the votaries, was an indispensa- 
ble adjunct. The sacred fluid should be the dew gath- 
ered at dawn from the leaves, or that which flowed from 
a well of which no woman had ever tasted. 1 

The use of such " holy water " astonished the Roman- 
ist missionaries, and they at once detected Satan paro- 
dying the Scriptures. But their astonishment rose to 
horror when they discovered among various nations a 
rite of baptism of appalling similarity to their own, 
connected with the imposing of a name, done avowedly 
for the purpose of freeing from inherent sin, believed 
J to produce a regeneration of the spiritual nature, nay, 
in more than one instance called by an indigenous 
word signifying "to be born again." 2 

Such a rite was of immemorial antiquity among the 
Cherokees, Aztecs, Mayas, and Peruvians. Had the 
missionaries remembered that it was practised in Asia 
with all these meanings long before it was chosen as 
the sign of the new covenant, they need have invoked 
neither Satan nor St. Thomas to explain its presence 
in America. 

As corporeal is near akin to spiritual pollution, and 
cleanliness to godliness, ablution preparatory to en- 
gaging in religious acts came early to have an emble- 
matic as well as a real significance. The water freed 
the soul from sin as it did the skin from stain. We 
should come to God with clean hands and a clean 
heart. As Pilate washed his hands before the multi- 

1 Landa, Relation de Yucatan, p. 87 ; Brinton, Primer of Mayan 
Hieroglyphics, p. 104. 

2 The term in Maya is caput zihil, corresponding exactly to the 
Latin renasci, to be re-born, Landa, Bel. de Yucatan, p. 144. It has 
every appearance of an ancient word and is in the MS. Diet, de 
Motul of 1576. 



WATER CEREMONIES. 



149 



tude to indicate that he would not accept the moral 
responsibility of their acts, so from a similar motive 
a Natchez chief, who had been persuaded against his 
sense of duty not to sacrifice himself on the pyre of 
his ruler, took clean water, washed his hands, and threw 
it upon live coals. 1 

When an ancient Peruvian had laid bare his guilt 
by confession, he bathed himself in a neighboring river 
and repeated this formula : — 

" 0 thou River, receive the sins I have this day con- 
fessed unto the Sun, carry them down to the sea, and 
let them never more appear." 2 

The Navajo who has been deputed to carry a dead 
body to burial, holds himself unclean until he has 
thoroughly washed himself in water prepared for the 
purpose by certain ceremonies. 3 When a Bri-bri has 
touched a corpse or a pregnant woman he takes a cala- 
bash of water to purify himself. 4 A bath was an in- 
dispensable step in the mysteries of Mithras, the initia- 
tion at Eleusis, the meda worship of the Algonkins, 
the Busk of the Creeks, the ceremonials of religion 
everywhere. Baptism was at first always immersion. 
It was a bath meant to solemnize the reception of the 
child into the guild of mankind, drawn from the prior 
custom of ablution at any solemn occasion. In both 
the object is greater purity, bodily and spiritual. 

As certainly as there is a law of conscience, as cer- 
tainly as our actions fall short of our volitions, so cer- 
tainly is man painfully aware of various imperfections 

1 Dumont, Mems. Hist, sur la Louisiane, i. p. 233. 

2 Acosta, Hist, of the New World, lib. v. cap. 25. 

3 Senate Report on Condition of Indian Tribes, p. 358 (Washing- 
ton, 1867). 

4 Gabb, Indian Tribes of Costa Rica, p. 505. 



150 MYTHS OF WATER, FIRE AND THUNDER-STORM. 



and shortcomings. What he feels he attributes to the 
infant. Avowedly to free themselves from this sense 
of guilt the Delawares used an emetic (Loskiel), the 
Cherokees a potion cooked up by an order of female 
warriors (Timberlake), the Takahlies of Washington 
Territory, the Aztecs, Mayas, and Peruvians, auricular 
confession. 

Formulize these feelings and we have the dogmas of 
"original sin," and of "spiritual regeneration." The 
order of baptism among the Aztecs commenced, " 0 
child, receive the water of the Lord of the world, which 
is our life ; it is to wash and to purify ; may these drops 
remove the sin which was given to thee before the crea- 
tion of the world, since all of us are under its power ;" 
and concluded, "Now he liveth anew and is born 
anew, now is he purified and cleansed, now our mother 
the Water again bringeth him into the world." 1 

A name was then assigned to the child, usually that 
of some ancestor, who it was supposed would thus be 
induced to exercise a kindly supervision over the little 
one's future. In after life should the person desire 
admittance to a superior class of the population and 
had the wealth to purchase it — for here as in more en- 
lightened lands nobility was a matter of money — he 
underwent a second baptism and received another 
name, but still ostensibly from the goddess of water. 2 

In Peru the child was immersed in the fluid, the 
priest exorcised the evil and bade it enter the water, 
which was then buried in the ground. 3 In either 
country sprinkling could take the place of immersion. 
The Cherokees believe that unless the rite is punctually 

1 Sahagnn, Hist, de la Nueva Espana, lib. vi. cap. 37. 

2 Ternaux-Compans, Pieces rel. & la Conq. du Mexique, p. 233. 

3 Velasco, Hist, de la Royaume de Quito, p. 106, and others. 



FOUNTAIN OF YOTJTB. 



151 



performed when the child is three days old, it will 
inevitably die. 1 

As thus curative and preservative, it was imagined 
that there was water of which whoever should drink 
would not die, but live forever. I have already alluded 
to the Fountain of Youth, supposed long before Colum- 
bus saw the surf of San Salvador to exist in the Baha- 
ma Islands or Florida. It seems to have lingered long 
on that peninsula. Not many years ago, Coacooche, a 
Seminole chieftain, related a vision which had nerved 
him to a desperate escape from the Castle of St. Augus- 
tine. " In my dream," said he, " I visited the happy 
hunting grounds and saw my twin sister, lon^ since 
gone. She offered me a cup of pure water, which she 
said came from the spring of the Great Spirit, and if I 

1 Whipple, Rep. on the Indian Tribes, p. 35. I am not sure that 
this practice was of native growth to the Cherokees. This people 
have many customs and traditions strangely similar to those of 
Christians and Jews. Their cosmogony is a paraphrase of that of 
Genesis. (Payne's MSS. in Penna. Hist. Soc.) The number 
seven, according to Whipple, is as sacred with them as it was 
with the Chaldeans ; and they have improved and increased by 
contact with the whites. Significant in this connection is the 
remark of Bartram, who visited them in 1773, that some of their 
females were "nearly as fair and blooming as European women," 
and generally that their complexion was lighter than their neigh- 
bors {Travels, p. 485). Possibly they derived these peculiarities 
from the Spaniards of Florida. Mr. Shea is of opinion that mis- 
sions were established among them as early as 1566 and 1643 
(Hist, of Catholic Missions in the U. S., pp. 58, 73). Certainly in the 
latter half of the seventeenth century the Spaniards were prose- 
cuting mining operations in their territory. (See Am. Hist. Mag., 
x. p. 137.) The Cherokees of to-day retain many of the rites and 
feelings of their ancestors. A valuable study of them has been 
made by Mr. James Mooney, The Sacred Formidas of the Cherokees, 
in 7 th An. Eep. Bureau of Ethnology. 



152 MVTHS OF WATER, FIRE AND THUNDER-STORM:. 



should drink of it, I should return and live with her 

forever." 1 

Some such mystical respect for the element, rather 
than as a mere outfit for his spirit home, probably in- 
duced the earlier tribes of the same territory to place 
the conch-shell which the deceased had used for a cup 
conspicuously upon his grave, 2 and the Mexicans and 
Peruvians to inter a vase filled with water with the 
corpse, or to sprinkle it with the liquid, baptizing it, 
as it were, into its new association. 3 It was an emblem 
of the hope that should cheer the dwellings of the dead, 
a symbol of the resurrection which is in store for those 
who have gone down to the grave. 

The vase or the gourd as a symbol of water, the 
source and preserver of life, is a conspicuous figure in 
the myths and in the art of ancient America. As Ak- 
bal or Huecomitl, the great or original vase, in Aztec 
and Maya legends it plays important parts in the 
drama of creation ; as Tici (Ticcu) in Peru it is the 
symbol of the rains, and as a gourd it is often men- 
tioned by the Caribs and Tupis as the parent of the 
atmospheric waters. Large reclining images, bearing 
vases, have been exhumed in the Valley of Mexico, in 
Tlascala, in Yucatan, and elsewhere. They represent 
the rain god, the water bearer, the patron of agriculture. 4 

1 Sprague, Hist, of the Florida War, p. 328. 

2 Basanier, Histoire Notable de la Floride, p. 10. 

3 Sahagun, Hist, de la NuevaEspana, lib. iii. app. cap. i. ; Meyen, 
Ueber die Ureinwohner von Peru, p. 29. 

4 Several figures of them are collected by Jesus Sanchez in an 
article in the Anales del Museo Nacional de Mexico, Tom. I. The 
significance of the vase-symbol in primitive cosmic conceptions is 
ably set forth by Leo V. Frobenius in the Verhand. der Berliner 
Anthrop. Geselkchaft, 1895, pp. 532 sqq. 



THE MOON GOD. 



153 



( As the Moon is associated with the dampness and 
dews of night, an ancient and wide-spread myth iden- 
tified her with the Goddess of Water.J Moreover, in 
spite of the expostulations of the learned, the common 
people the world over persist in attributing to her a 
marked influence on the rains. ( Whether false or true, 
this familiar opinion is of great iu3aqiuty, and was de- 
cidedly approved by the Indians, who were all, in the 
words of an old author, " great observers of the weather 
by the moon." 1 They looked upon her not only as 
forewarning them by her appearance of the approach 
of rains and fogs, but as being their actual cause. 

Isis, her Egyptian title, literally means moisture^ 
Ataensic, whom the Hurons said was the moon, is de- 
rived from the word for water. ) The Hidatsa word midi 
means both moon and water ; and Citatli and Atl, moon 
and water, are constantly confounded in Aztec theology. 

Their attributes were strikingly alike. They were 
both the mythical mothers of the race, and both pro- 
tect women in child-birth, the babe in the cradle, the 
husbandman in the field, and the youth and maiden in 
their tender affections. As the transfer of legends was 
nearly always from the water to its lunar goddess, by 
bringing them in at this point their true meaning will 
not fail to be apparent. 

We must ever bear in mind that the course of my- 
thology is from many gods toward one, that it is a syn- 
thesis, not an analysis, and that in this process the ten- 
dency is to blend in. one the traits and stories of 
originally separate divinities. As has justly been ob- 
served by the Mexican antiquarian Gama : " It was a 
common trait among the Indians to worship many gods 

1 Gabriel Thomas, Hist, of West New Jersey, p. 5 (London, 1698). 



154 MYTHS OF WATER, FIRE AND THUNDER-STORM. 



under the figure of one, principally those whose activi- 
ties lay in the same direction, or those in some way re- 
lated among themselves." 1 

(The time of full moon was chosen both in Mexico 
and Peru to celebrate the festival of the deities of water, 
the patrons of agriculture, 2 and very generally the 
ceremonies connected with the crops were regulated by 
her phases.) The Nicaraguans said that the god of 
rains, Quiateot, rose in the east, 3 thus hinting how this 
connection originated. At a lunar eclipse the Orinoco 
Indians seized their hoes and labored with exemplary 
vigor on their growing corn, saying the moon was veil- 
ing herself in anger at their habitual laziness ;* and a 
description of the New Netherlands, written about 1650, 
remarks that the savages of that land *' ascribe great 
influence to the moon over crops." 5 ( With the Ipurinas 
of Brazil the moon is the god who sends the crops and 
fruits. He is addressed as " Our father," and described 
as a little old man with his hair over his forehead.^) 
Among the Guaycurus of Paraguay the women only, 
the tillers of the fields, performed the rites to the lunar 
deity, whose favor they asked as the giver of increase 
and the harvest. 7 

This venerable superstition, common to all races, still 
lingers among our own farmers, many of whom con- 
tinue to observe u the signs of the moon " in sowing 

1 Gama, Des. de las dos Piedras, etc., i. p. 36. 

2 Garcia, Or. de los Indios, p. 109. 

3 Oviedo, Pel. de la Prov. de Nicaragua, p. 41. The name is a 
corruption of the Aztec Quiauhteotl, Rain-God. 

* Gumilla, Hist, del Orinoco, ii. cap. 23. 

5 Doc. Hist, of New York, iv. p. 130. 

6 Paul Ehrenreich, Volker Brasiliens, p. 72 (1891). 

7 Guido Boggiani, I Caduvei, p. 298 (1895). 



THE MOON GOD. 



155 



grain, setting out trees, cutting timber, and other rural 
avocations. 

^As representing water, the universal mother, the 
moon was the protectress of women in child-birth, the 
T goddess of love and babes, the patroness of marriage^ 
To her the mother called in travail, whether by the 
name of " Diana, diva triformis," in pagan Rome, by 
that of Mama Quilla in Peru, or of Metztli in Anahauc. 
Under the title of Yohualticitl, the Lady of Night, she 
was also in this latter country the guardian of babes, 
and as Tecziztecatl, the cause of generation. 1 

Very different is another aspect of the moon goddess, 
and well might the Mexicans paint her with two colors. 
The beneficent dispenser of harvests and offspring, she 
nevertheless has a portentous and terrific phase. She 
is also the goddess of the night, the dampness, and the 
cold ; she engenders the miasmatic poisons that rack 
our bones ; she conceals in her mantle the foe who 
takes us unawares ; she rules those vague shapes which 
fright us in the dim light ; the causeless sounds of 
night or its more oppressive silence is familiar to her ; 
she it is who sends dreams wherein gods and devils 
have their sport with man, and slumber, the twin 
brother of Death. In the occult philosophy of the mid- 
dle ages she was "Chief over the Night, Darkness, 
Rest, Death, and the Waters;" 2 in the language of the 
Algonkins, her name is identical with the words for 
night, death, cold, sleep, and water. 3 

1 Gama, Des. de las dos Piedras, ii. p. 41 ; Gallatin, Trans. Am. 
Eihnol. Soc, i. p. 343. 

2 Adrian Van Helmont, Workes, p. 142, fol. (London, 1662). 

3 The moon is nipa or nipaz ; nipa, I sleep ; nipawi, night ; nip, 
I die ; nepua, dead ; nipanoue, cold. This odd relationship was 
first pointed out by Volney (Duponceau, Langues de V Amerique du 



156 MYTHS OF WATER, FIRE AND THUNDER-STORM. 



She is the evil minded woman who thus brings dis- 
eases upon men, who at the outset introduced pain 
and death in the world — our common mother, yet the 
cruel cause of our present woes. Sometimes it is the 
moon, sometimes water, of whom this is said : " We are 
all of us under the power of evil and sin, because we 
are children of the Water," says the Mexican baptismal 
formula. That Unktahe, spirit of water, is the master 
of dreams and witchcraft, is the belief of the Dakotas. 1 
The Hurons related of Ataensic that she was mistress 
of the souls of the dead, and destroyed the living. 2 A 
female spirit, wife of the great manito whose heart is 
the sun, the ancient Algonkins believed brought death 
and disease to the race ; " it is she who kills men, other- 
wise they would never die ; she eats their flesh and 
gnaws their vitals, till they fall away and miserably 
perish." 3 

Who is this woman ? In the legend of the Muyscas 
it is Chia, the moon, who was also goddess of water and 
flooded the earth out of spite. 4 Her reputation was 
notoriously bad. Did she appear in a dream to a Sauk 
warrior, he dressed himself as a woman and labored as 

Nord, p. 317). But the kinship of these words to that for water, 
nip, nipi, nepi, has not before been noticed. This proves the asso- 
ciation of ideas on which I lay so much stress in mythology. A 
somewhat similar relationship exists in the Aztec and cognate lan- 
guages, miqui, to die, micqui, dead, mictlan, the realm of death, te- 
miqui, to dream, cec-miqui, to freeze. Would it be going too far to 
connect these with metzli, moon ? (See Buschmann, Spuren der Azte- 
kischen Sprache im Nordlichen Mexico, p. 80.) 

1 Schoolcraft, Ind. Tribes, vol. iii. p. 485. 

2 Bel. de la Nouvelle France, 1635, p. 34 ; Sagard, Dkt. de la Langue 
Huronne. 

3 Hel. de la Nouv. France, 1634, p. 16. 

4 Humboldt, Vues des Cordilleres, p. 21. 



LUNAR INFLUENCES. 



157 



sucli for a time, to avoid her anger. 1 The Brazilian 
mother carefully shielded her infant from the lunar 
rays, believing that they would produce sickness f the 
hunting tribes of our own country will not sleep in its 
light, nor leave their game exposed to its action. We 
ourselves have not outgrown such words as lunatic, 
moon-struck, and the like. 

Where did we get these ideas ? The philosophical 
historian of medicine, Kurt Sprengel, traces them to 
.the primitive and popular medical theories of ancient 
Egypt, in accordance with which all maladies were the 
effects of the anger of the goddess Isis, the Moisture, the 
Moon. 3 

We have here the key to many myths. Take that of 
Centeotl, the Aztec goddess of Maize. Although gene- 
rally beneficent, she was said at times to appear as a 
woman of surpassing beauty, and allure some unfortu- 
nate to her embraces, destined to pay with his life for 
his brief moments of pleasure. Even to see her in this 
shape was a fatal omen. She was also said to belong to 
a class of gods whose home was in the west, and who 
produced sickness and pains. 4 Here we see the evil 
aspect of the moon reflected on another goddess, who 
was at first solely the patroness of agriculture. 

As the goddess of sickness, it was supposed that per- 
sons afflicted with certain diseases had been set apart 
by the moon for her peculiar service. These diseases 
were those of a humoral type, especially such as are 
characterized by issues and ulcers. As in Hebrew the 

1 Keating, Narrative, i. p. 216, in Waitz. 

2 Spix and Martius, Travels in Brazil, ii. p. 247. 
8 Hist, de la Medecine, i. p. 34. 

4 Gama, Des. de las dos Piedras, etc., ii. pp. 100-102. Compare 
Sahagun, Hist, de la Nueva Espana, lib. i. cap. vi. 



158 MYTHS OF WATER, FIRE AND THUNDER-STORM. 

word accursed is derived from a root meaning conse- 
crated to God, so in the Aztec, Quiche, and other tongues, 
the word for leprous, eczematous, or syphilitic, means also 
divine. 

This bizarre change of meaning is illustrated in a 
very ancient myth of their family. It is said that in 
the absence of the sun all mankind lingered in dark- 
ness. Nothing but a human sacrifice could hasten his 
arrival. Then Metztli, the moon, led forth one Nana- 
huatl, the leprous, and building a pyre, the victim 
threw himself in its midst. Straightway Metztli fol- 
lowed his example, and as she disappeared in the 
bright flames the sun rose over the horizon. 1 Is not 
this a reference to the kindling rays of the aurora, in 
which the dank and baleful night is sacrified, and in 
whose light the moon presently fades away, and the 
sun comes forth ? 

Another reaction in the mythological laboratory is 
here disclosed. As the good qualities of water were 
attributed to the goddess of night, sleep, and death, so 
her malevolent traits were in turn reflected back on 
this element. Other thoughts aided the transfer. In 
primitive geography the Ocean Stream coils its infinite 
folds around the speck of land we inhabit, biding its 
time to swallow it wholly. Unwillingly did it yield 
the earth from its bosom, daily does it steal it away 
piece by piece. Every evening it hides the light in its 
depths, and Night and the Waters resume their ancient 

1 Codex Chimalpopoca, in Brasseur, Hist, du Mexique, i. p. 183. 
Gama and others translate Nanahuatl by el buboso, Brasseur by le 
syphilitique, and the latter founds certain medical speculations on 
the word. Several suggestions have been offered by ancient and 
modern writers about this singular association of ideas. I have 
collected them in Essays of an Americanist, pp. 115, 116. 



WATER SPIRITS. 



159 



sway. The word for ocean (mare) in the Latin tongue 
means by derivation a desert, and the Greeks spoke 
of it as " the barren brine." 

Water is a treacherous element. Man treads boldly 
on the solid earth, but the rivers and lakes constantly 
strive to swallow those who venture within their reach. 
As streams run in tortuous channels, and as rains ac- 
company the lightning serpent, this animal was oc- 
casionally the symbol of the waters in their dangerous 
manifestations. The Huron magicians fabled that in 
the lakes and rivers dwelt one of vast size called An- 
gont, who sent sickness, death, and other mishaps, and 
the least mite of whose flesh was a deadly poison. They 
added — and this was the point of the tale — that they 
always kept on hand portions of the monster for the 
benefit of any who opposed their designs. 1 

The legends of the Algonkins mention a rivalry be- 
tween Michabo, creator of the earth, and the Spirit of 
the Waters, who was unfriendly to the project. 2 In 
later tales this antagonism becomes more and more 
pronounced, and borrows an ethical significance which 
it did not have at first. Taking, however, American 
religions as a whole, water is far more frequently rep- 
resented as producing beneficent effects than the re- 
verse. 

Dogs were supposed to stand in some peculiar rela- 
tion to the moon, probably because they howl at it and 
run at night, uncanny practices which have cost them 
dear in reputation. The custom prevailed among tribes 

1 Bel. de la Nonv. France, 1648, p. 75. 

2 Charlevoix is in error when he identifies Michabo with the 
Spirit of the Waters, and maybe corrected from his own statements 
elsewhere. Compare his Journal Historique, pp. 281 and 344 (ed. 
Paris, 1740). 



160 MYTHS OF WATER, FIRE AND THUNDER-STORM. 

so widely asunder as Peruvians, Tupis, Creeks, Iroquois, 
Algonkins, and Greenland Eskimos to thrash the curs 
most soundly during an eclipse. 1 The Creeks explained 
this by saying that the big dog was swallowing the sun, 
and that by whipping the little ones they could make 
him desist. What the big dog was they were not pre- 
pared to say. We know. It was the night goddess, 
represented by the dog, who was thus shrouding the 
world at midday. 

The ancient Romans sacrificed dogs to Hecate and 
Diana, in Egypt they were sacred to Isis, and thus as 
traditionally connected with night and its terrors, the 
Prince of Darkness, in the superstition of the middle 
ages, preferably appeared under the form of a cur, 
as that famous poodle which accompanied Cornelius 
Agrippa, or that which grew to such enormous size 
behind the stove of Dr. Faustus. 

In a better sense, they represented the more agreea- 
ble characteristics of the lunar goddess. Xochiquetzal, 
most fecund of Aztec divinities, patroness of love, of 
sexual pleasure, and of childbirth, was likewise called 
Itzcuinan, which, literally translated, is bitch-mother. 
This strange and to us so repugnant title for a goddess 
was not without parallel elsewhere. When in his wars 
the Inca Pachacutec carried his arms into the province 
of Huanca, he found its inhabitants had installed in 
their temples the figure of a dog as their highest deity. 
They were accustomed also to select one as his iving 
representative, to pray to it and offer it sacrifice, and 
when well fattened, to serve it up with solemn cere- 
monies at a great feast, eating their god substantialiter. 

1 Bradford, American Antiquities, p. 333 ; Martius, Von dem Bechts- 
zustande unter den Ureinwohnern Brasiliens, p. 32 ; Schoolcraft, Ind. 
Tribes, i. p. 271 ; Von Tschudi, Beitr'dge, p. 29. 



DOG STORIES. 



161 



The priests in this province summoned their attendants 
to the temple by blowing through an instrument fash- 
ioned from a dog's skull. 1 

This canine canonization explains why in some parts 
of Peru a priest was called by way of honor allco, dog P 
And why in many tombs both there and in Mexico 
their skeletons are found carefully interred with the 
human remains. Many tribes of the Pacific coast 
united in the adoration of a wild species, the coyote, 
the canis latrans of naturalists. The Shoshonees of New 
Mexico call it their progenitor f in the myths of the 
Shuswap and Kootenay of British Columbia it is the 
creator of the world f and with the Nahuas it was in 
such high honor that it had a temple of its own, a con- 
gregation of priests devoted to its service, statues carved 
in stone, an elaborate tomb at death, and is said to be 
meant by the god Chantico, whose audacity caused one 
of the destructions of the world. 

The story was that he made a sacrifice to the gods 
without observing a preparatory fast, for which he was 
punished by being changed into a dog. He then in- 
voked the god of death to deliver him, which attempt 
to evade a just punishment so enraged the divinities 
that they immersed the world in water. 5 

1 La Vega, Hist, des Incas, liv. vi. cap. 9. 

2 Lett, sur les Superstitions du Perou, p. 111. 

3 Schoolcraft, Ind. Tribes, iv. p. 224. 

* Geo. M. Dawson, Trans. Boy. Soc. Canada, 1891, p. 28 ; A. F. 
Chamberlain, Amer. Antiquarian, 1892. Numerous other coyote 
myths have been recorded by Dr. Franz Boas, Stephen Powers 
(Tribes of California), etc. 

6 Chantico or Chancoti, according to Gama, means " Wolf's 
Head," though I cannot verify this from the vocabularies within 
my reach. He (or she) is sometimes called Cohuaxolotl Chantico, 
the snake-servant Chantico, considered by Gama as one, by Tor- 

11 



162 MYTHS OF WATER, FIRE AND THUNDER-STORM. 



During a storm on our northern lakes the Indians 
think no offering so likely to appease the angry water 
god who is raising the tempest as a dog. Therefore they 
hasten to tie the feet of one and toss him overboard. 1 
One meets constantly in their tales and superstitions the 
mysterious powers of the animals, and the distinguished 
actions he has at times performed bear usually a close 
parallelism to those attributed to water and the moon. 

Hunger and thirst were thus alleviated by water. 
Cold remained, and against this fire was the shield. It 
gives man light in darkness and warmth in winter; it 
shows him his friends and warns him of his foes ; the 
flames point toward heaven and the smoke makes the 
clouds. Around it social life begins. For his home 
and his hearth the savage has but one word, and what 
of tender emotion his breast can feel, is linked to the 
circle that gathers around his fire. The council fire, 
the camp fire, and the war fire, are so many epochs in 
his history. By its aid many arts become possible, and 
it is a civil izer in more ways than one. 

quemada as two deities (see Gama, Des. de las dos Piedras, etc, i. p. 
12 ; ii. p. 66). The English word cantico in the phrase, for instance, 
"to cut a cantico," though an Indian word, is not from this, but 
from the Algonkin Delaware gentkehn, to dance a sacred dance. The 
Dutch describe it as u a religious custom observed among them 
before death" (Doc. Hist, of New York, iv. p. 63). William Penn 
says of the Lenape, " their worship consists of two parts, sacrifice 
and cantico," the latter " performed by round dances, sometimes 
words, sometimes songs, then shouts ; their postures very antic and 
differing." (Letter to the Free Society of Traders, 1683, sec 21.) 

1 Charlevoix, Hist. Gen. de la Nouv. France, i. p. 394 (Paris, 
1740). The different species of dogs indigenous to America, and 
domesticated by the red race, have been studied by E. D. Cope, 
Ihering and others. Von Tschudi has an interesting article on 
those of South America (Beitrdge, p. 26, sq. ) 



SOLAR MYTHS. 



163 



In the figurative language of the red race, it is con- 
stantly used as " an emblem of peace, happiness, and 
abundance." 1 To extinguish an enemy's fire is to slay 
him ; to light a visitor's fire is to bid him welcome. 
Fire worship was closely related to that of the sun, and 
so much has been said of sun worship among the abo- 
rigines of America that it is essential to assign to it the 
correct position that it held. 

A decade or two ago it was a fashion very much ap- 
proved to explain as a " solar myth " every symbolic 
narrative coined by the primitive religious fancy. 
Wiser opinions now prevail. It has come to be recog- 
nized that no one key will open all the arcana of sym- 
bolism. Man devised means as varied as nature her- 
self to express the idea of God within him. The sun 
was certainly one of these, and it holds a prominent 
position in the pantheon of many primitive peoples. 
The " mysterious one of day," as this orb was called by 
the Dakotas, frequently appears in the myths as the 
father of the race of men, as the divinity which watches 
their progress, lends them aid and listens to their 
prayers. The Algonquin word, kesuk, sun, is derived 

1 Narr. of the Captiv. of John Tanner, p. 362. From the word 
for fire in many American tongues is formed the adjective red. 
Thus, Algonkin, skoda, fire, miskoda, red ; Kolosch, kan, fire, kan, 
red ; Ugalentz, takak, fire, takak-uete, red ; Tahkali, cun, fire, tenil- 
cun, red ; Quiche, cak, fire, cak, red, etc. From the adjective red 
comes often the word for blood, as Iroquois, onekwensa, blood, onek- 
wentara, red ; Algonkin, miskwi, blood, miskoda, red, etc., and in 
symbolism the color red may refer to either of these ideas. It was 
the royal color of the Incas, brothers of the sun, and a llama 
swathed in a red garment was the Peruvian sacrifice to fire (Garcia, 
Or. de los Indios, lib. iv. caps. 16, 19). On the other hand the war 
quipus, the war wampum, and the war paint were all of this hue, 
boding their sanguinary significance. 



164 MYTHS OF WATER, FIRE AND THUNDER-STORM. 



from a verb which means 'Ho give life;" 1 expressed in 
the Zunian myths by the figure that " the sun formed 
the seed-stuff of the world." 2 

But these and a hundred more such tropes which 
could easily be collected, set forth incompletely the 
thought which is behind them, and which appears 
clearly in other forms of the same narratives and terms. 
Almost everywhere in the native religious expres- 
sions we can discover a carefully-guarded distinction 
between the sun itself as a visible object, and certain 
attributes for which it symbolically stood. These were 
especially light and warmth, and what appears as sun- 
worship will prove generally to be on close examina- 
tion, worship of light and fire ; a distinction well-main- 
tained in myth and ritual, and therefore of prime im- 
portance in studying their traits. 

This is visible both in words and expressions. In 
the Algonkin dialects (and in very many others) the 
word for sun above quoted, means also " sky " and 
" day." Old authorities state that they did not regard 
the sun as a divinity but as merely a symbol. It was 
the " wigwam of the Great Spirit," and when ques- 
tioned as to whether they prayed to it they answered, 
" Not to the sun, but to the Old Man who lives there.'' 3 
In many native languages the same word stands for 
both sun and moon, the distinction, when required, 
being made by some qualifying term. In others, 
as the Natchez, the Kolosch, the Tezuque, and the 

1 J. H. Trumbull, in notes to Koger Williams, Language of 
America , p. 104. But kesuk means moon as well as sun. 

2 F. H. Cushing, Zunian Creation Myths, p. 379. 

5 Compare La Hontan, Voy. dans VAmer., vol. ii. p. 127; 
Bel Nouv. Fiance, 1637, p. 54 ; Cop way, Trad. Hist, of the Ojibway 
Nation, p. 165. 



SUN AND FIRE. 



165 



Arawack dialects of South America, the word for 
" sun " is derived from that for " fire," and the sun is 
often referred to merely as " the great fire," thus assign- 
ing to that element the predominance in thought. We 
are definitely informed by a close observer that the 
Nahuas regarded, not the sun, but fire as " the father 
and mother of all things and the author of nature." 1 
To them fire was the active generator, the life-giver, 
the source of animate existence ; and this we shall dis- 
cover running widely through the alleged heliolatry of 
the American Indian. 

It is reflected in the Choctaw expressions about fire 
and the sun. They refer to fire as shahli miko, " the 
greater chief," and speak of it as hashe ittiapa, " He 
who accompanies the sun and the sun him." Their 
language has a " fire particle," used to express the real 
or imagined actions of the element. On going to war 
they call for aid on both sun and fire ; " but except as 
fire, they do not address the sun, nor does that body 
stand in any relation to their religious thought other 
than as fire." 2 

Numerous myths . reveal this distinction which I 
somewhat insist upon, because I believe its proper un- 
derstanding is essential to a correct appreciation of the 
inner and higher meanings of American religions. For 
example, the Mohaves of Colorado related that their 
chief divinity, Matowelia, was above the sun, moon 
and stars, and guided them in their journeys. His 
dwelling place was beyond them, on the summit of 
the " White Mountain," the sky or heavens, and to him 
fared the souls of those fortunate Mohaves whose 

1 Martin de Leon, Camino del Cielo, fol. 100 (Mexico, 1611). 

2 Byington, Grammar of the Choctaiv Language, p. 43 ; Rev. Al- 
fred Wright, Missionary Herald, vol. xxiv. 



166 MYTHS OF WATER, FIRE AND THUNDER-STORM. 

bodies were duly incinerated; while those toward 
whom this was neglected turned into owls, gloomy 
birds of night. 1 

So of the Pawnees. Their prayers for help " are not 
directed to the sun in any other sense than one of many 
mediators." The intangible and omnipotent Atius 
Tirawa, whose house is the heavens and whose messen- 
gers are the eagle and the buzzard, is he who called 
sun, moon and stars into being and ordered them their 
various circuits. 2 

All the tribes on the Northwest Coast attribute the 
creative act to the original Raven who lived before the 
sun was formed. He found it by one or another acci- 
dent, and, picking it up, " placed it in the heavens, 
where it has been ever since." With the Kootenays it 
is either the coyote or the chicken hawk who manu- 
factures the sun out of a ball of grease and sets it in 
the sky to pursue its course, — rude fancies, but serving 
as well as any to show that these tribes did not regard 
the sun as the visible creator or the highest divinity. 3 
The Brazilian Indian says that the sun is a ball of 
bright feathers, which some mysterious being shows 
during the day and covers at night with a pot. 4 

In another relation, as I shall show later, the sun 
was connected with the perception of light, but not 
identified with it. Light comes with the dawn, before 
the sun brings it forth, creates it, as it were. Hence 
the Light God is not the sun god, but his antecedent 
and maker. 

1 G. A. Allen, in Smithsonian Report, 1 890. 

2 G. B. Grinnell, in Jour. Amer. Folk-lore, 1893, p. 113, sq. 

3 James Deans and A. F. Chamberlain, in the American Anti- 
quarian, March, 1895. 

4 Von den Steinen, Naturvolker Zentral-Braziliens, p. 359. 



BELIOLATEY. 



167 



The heliolatry organized principally for political 
ends by the Incas of Peru, stands alone in the religions 
of the red race. Those shrewd legislators at an early 
date officially announced that Inti, the sun, their own 
elder brother, was ruler of the cohorts of heaven by 
like divine right that they were of the four corners of 
the earth. This scheme ignominiously failed, as every 
attempt to fetter the liberty of conscience must and 
should. The later Incas finally indulged publicly in 
heterodox remarks, and compromised the matter by 
acknowledging a divinity superior even to their 
brother the Sun, as we have seen in a previous chapter. 

The myths of creation rarely represent the sun as 
anterior to the world, but as manufactured by the " old 
people " (Navajos) ; as kindled and set going by the 
first of men (Algonkins) ; as freed from some cave by 
a kindly deity (Haitians and Quichuas) ; as obtained 
by a god sacrificing himself on the fire (Nahuas) ; as 
moulded and started on its journey by the Light-god 
(Muyscas) ; and in a variety of other names. Where 
the sun is reported to have been literally the Creator, ^ 
it is usually owing to a lack of knowledge of the lan- 
guage or of insight into the religious thought of the 
tribe on the part of the observer. 

Where we have any considerable body of the myths 
of a tribe, of pure alloy and in the native tongue, we 
scarcely anywhere discover that the Sun represents 
either their first, greatest or central theistic conception. 
Thus, among the Nahuas, Tonatiuh, the Sun, was a 
very subordinate deity compared to Yaotl and others ;* 
and in the Popol Vuh of the Quiches it does not ap- 
pear as a deity at all. 

Comp. Sahagun, Historia, lib.iii.. App. cap. iv. 



168 MYTHS OF WATER, FIRE AND THUNDER-STORM. 



Some readers will be surprised that I assign a so much 
more prominent place in primitive religions to the moon 
than to the sun ; but not only is this borne out in refer- 
ence to them by the facts I have stated and by a long 
list of others that could be adduced, but also it is 
reiterated in the modern folk-lore of all countries. 
In this, as specialists are aware, moon superstitions are 
incomparably more frequent than those relating to the 
sun. Various explanations have been offered for this, 
but no one questions the fact. 1 

The institutions of a perpetual fire, of obtaining new 
fire, and of burning the dead, prevailed extensively 
in the New World. In the present discussion the ori- 
gin of such practices, rather than the ceremonies with 
which they were attended, have an interest. The sav- 
age knew that fire was necessary to his life. Were it 
lost, he justly foreboded dire calamities and the ruin 
of his race. Therefore at stated times with due solem- 
nity he produced it anew by friction or the flint, or else 
was careful to keep one fire constantly alive. 

These not unwise precautions soon fell to mere su- 
perstitions. If the Aztec priest at the stated time failed 
to obtain a spark from his pieces of wood, if the sacred 
fire by chance became extinguished, the end of the 
world or the destruction of mankind was apprehended. 
u You know it was a saying among our ancestors," said 
an Iroquois chief in 1753, " that when the fire at Onon- 
daga goes out, we shall no longer be a people." 2 

So deeply rooted was this notion, that the Catholic 
missionaries in New Mexico were fain to wink at it, 

1 See the remarks of W. W. Newell in introduction to Mrs. 
Fanny D. Bergen's Current Superstitions, 1896. 

2 Doc. Hist of New York, ii. p. 634. 



FIRE-WORSHIP. 



169 



and perform the sacrifice of the mass in the same build- 
ing where the flames were perpetually burning, that 
were not allowed to die until Montezuma and the fabled 
glories of ancient Anahuac with its heathenism should 
return. 1 

Throughout the continent fire became the type of 
life. " Know that the life in your body and the fire on 
your hearth are one and the same thing, and that both 
proceed from one source," said a Shawnee prophet. 2 
Such an expression was wholly in the spirit of his race. 
The greatest feast of the Delawares was that to their 
"grandfather, the fire." 3 "Their fire burns forever," 
was the Algonkin figure of speech to express the im- 
mortality of their gods.* " The ancient God, the Father 
and Mother of all Gods," says an Aztec prayer, " is the 
God of the Fire which is in the centre of the court with 
four walls, and which is covered with gleaming feathers 
like unto wings ;" dark sayings of the priests, referring 
to the glittering lightning fire borne from the sides of 
the earth. In their rituals fire was named Tota, Our 
Father, and Huehueteotl, Oldest of Gods; the infant 
passed through a baptism of fire on the fourth day of 
its life, up to which time a fire lighted at its birth was 
kept alive in order to nourish its life. 5 

As the path to a higher life hereafter, the burning of 
the dead was first instituted. It was a privilege usually 
confined to a select few. Among the Algonkin-Otta- 

1 Emory, MiWy Reconnaissance of New Mexico, p. 30. 

2 Narrative of John Tanner, p. 161. 

3 Loskiel, Ges. der Miss, der evang. JBrilder, p. 55. 
* Nar. of John Tanner, p. 351. 

5 Sahagun, Hist. Nueva Espana, lib. vi cap. 4 ; Jacinto de la 
Serna, Manual de Ministros, pp. 16, 24, etc. ; Brinton' s Nagualism, 
pp. 43-46, etc. 



170 MYTHS OF WATER, FIRE AND THUNDER-STORM. 

was, only those of the distinguished totem of the Great 
Hare, among the Nicaraguans none but the caciques, 
among the Caribs exclusively the priestly caste were en- 
titled to this peculiar honor. 1 The first gave as a reason 
for such an exceptional custom, that the members of so 
illustrious a clan as that of Michabo, the Great Hare, 
should not rot in the ground as common folks, but rise 
to the heavens on the flames and smoke. 

Those of Nicaragua seemed to think it the sole path 
to immortality, holding that only such as offered them- 
selves on the pyre of their chieftain would escape anni- 
hilation at death f and the tribes of Upper California 
were persuaded that such as were not burned at death 
were liable to be transformed into the lower orders of 
brutes. 3 Strangely enough we thus find a sort of bap- 
tism by fire deemed essential to a higher life beyond the 
grave, as, among the Nahuas, one was for this. 

Another analogy strengthened the symbolic force of 
fire as life. This is that which exists between the sen- 
sation of warmth and those passions whose physiologi- 
cal end is the perpetuation of the species. We see how 
native it is to the mind from such coarse expressions as 
" hot lust," " to burn," " to be in heat," " stews," and the 
like, figures not of the poetic, but the vulgar tongue. 
They occur in all languages, and hint how readily the 
worship of fire glided into that of the reproductive 
principle, into extravagances of chastity and lewdness, 
into the orgies of the so-called phallic worship. 

Some have supposed that a sexual dualism pervades 
all natural religions, and this too has been assumed as 

1 Letts. Edifiantes et Curieuses, iv. p. 104, Oviedo ; Hist, de Nicara- 
gua, p. 49 ; Gomara, Hist, del Orinoco, ii. cap. 2. 

2 Oviedo, Hist. Gen. delas Indias, p. 16, in Barcia's Hist. Prim. 

3 Presdt's Message and Docs, for 1851, pt. iii. p. 506. 



SEXUAL MYTHS. 



171 



the solution of all their myths. It has been said that 
the action of heat upon moisture, of the sun on the 
waters, the mysteries of reproduction, and the satisfac- 
tion of the sexual instincts, are the unvarying themes 
of primitive mythology. Like other exclusive theories, 
this falls before comprehensive criticism ; and yet it is 
true that in America as in so many other parts of the 
globe, the notion of reciprocal sexual action was ex- 
tended to the ideas of the creation and continuance of 
the world about us. 

There existed a personification and deification of the 
passions. Apparently it was grafted upon or rose out 
of that of fire by the analogy I have pointed out. Thus 
the Mexican God of fire was supposed to govern the 
generative proclivities, 1 and there is good reason to be- 
lieve that the sacred fire watched by unspotted virgins 
among the Mayas had decidedly such a signification. 
Certainly it was so, if we can depend upon the authority 
of a ballad translated from the original immediately 
after the conquest, cited by the venerable traveller and 
artist Count de Waldeck. It purports to be from the 
lover of one of these vestals, and referring to her occu- 
pation asks with a fine allusion to its mystic meaning — 

" O vierge, quand pourrai-je te posse'der pour ma compagne 
cherie ? 

Combien de temps faut-il encore que tes vceux soient ac- 
complis ? 

Dis-moi le jour qui doit devancer la belle nuit ou tous deux 
Alimenterons le feu qui nous fit naitre et que nous devons 
perpetuer." 2 

There is a bright as well as dark side to such a wor- 
ship. In Mexico, Peru, and Yucatan, the women who 

1 Sahagun, Hist, de la Nueva Espana, i. cap. 13. 

2 Voyage Pittoresque dans le Yucatan, p. 49. 



172 MYTHS OF WATER, FIRE AND THUNDER-STORM. 



watched the flames must be undoubted virgins ; they 
were usually of noble blood, and must vow eternal 
chastity, or at least were free to none but the ruler of 
the realm. As long as they were consecrated to the 
fire, so long any carnal ardor was degrading to their 
lofty duties. In the medicine dances of the Mandans 
only virgins were allowed to take part (Lewis and 
Clark). 

Many of the goddesses were virgin deities, as the 
Aztec Coatlicue, Xochiquetzal, and Chimalman; and 
many of the great gods of the race, as Quetzalcoatl, 
Manibozho, Viracocha, and Ioskeha, were said to have 
been born of a virgin. Even among the low Indians 
of Paraguay the early missionaries were startled to find 
this tradition of the maiden mother of the god, so simi- 
lar to that which they had come to tell. 1 

Celibacy was not unusually enjoined upon the priest- 
hood, and complete restraint was often ordered during 
religious ceremonies. The medicine men of an Algon- 
kin tribe who lived on the Hudson river were so severe 
in this respect that they would not so much as partake 
of food prepared by a married woman. 5 On the Rio 
Negro, Martius met a tribe whose priestly healers were 
scrupulous celibates, because it was believed that medi- 
cines would lose their efficacy if administered by a 
married man. 3 It is probably in some obscure connec- 
tion with this belief that a mutilation analogous to cir- 
cumcision was practiced among many tribes ; it was a 
symbolical sacrifice of sexuality, a type of the surren- 
der of the passions to the religious sentiments. 4 

1 Lettres Ed. et Curieuses, vol. v. p. 309. 

2 Doc. Hist, of New York, vol. iv. p. 28. 

3 Von ^Martius, YdUcerschaften Braziliejis, p. 587. 

* Gumilla asserts this of tribes on the Orinoco. Hist. Orinoco, p. 



SEXUAL BITES. 



173 



According to some authorities of weight, certain 
classes of the Aztec priesthood, doubtless carrying out 
the same intention, practiced complete abscission or 
discerption of the virile parts, and a mutilation of 
females was not unknown similar to that which has 
existed immemorially in Egypt. 1 

In both sexes the period of puberty was observed 
with numerous and solemn religious ceremonies, of 
which fasting, solitude and seclusion were prominent 
features. At that time in many tribes the youth or girl 
was believed to receive the personal guardian spirit, 
which should govern his or her after-life, and with it a 
new name known only to the family. 

The woman's later career was surrounded with semi- 
religious observances. She was considered unclean dur- 
ing her recurrent illnesses and in some tribes, as the Bri- 
bri of Costa Rica, also during pregnancy. " She is sup- 
posed," writes Mr. Gabb, "at that time to infect the whole 
neighborhood. All the deaths and misfortunes in the 
vicinity are laid to her charge." 2 Among the Ottawas of 
the north, the Cunas of Darien, and various other tribes, 
childbirth was regarded as especially dangerous to the 
husband, and either he or she must keep away from the 
marital abode until a period of purification had passed. 

Among the Mbocobis of Paraguay he must fast rigor- 
ously for fifteen days after her confinement, and pass 
the time in seclusion. 3 

119 ; Coreal of Nicaraguans and Yucatecans, Voiages, i., pp. 73, 291; 
Garcia of the Guaycurus, Or. de los Indios, p. 124 ; Mackenzie of 
the Hares and Dogribs, Voyage, p. 27 ; etc. 

1 Da villa Padilla, Hist, de la Prov. de Santiago de Mexico, lib. ii. 
cap. 88 (Brusselas, 1625) ; Palacios, Des. de Guatemala, p. 40 ; 
Garcia, Or. de los Indios, p. 124. 

2 Gabb, Indian Tribes of Costa Rica, p. 505. 

3 Perrot, Mem. deVAmer. Sept., p. 12 (1665); Oviedo, Hist de las 



174 MYTHS OF WATER, FIRE AND THUNDER-STORM. 

Some such notion was at the bottom of the extraor- 
dinary custom of the couvade. This was, that when the 
wife was delivered of the child, the husband took to his 
bed, and was waited upon and treated as if he had been 
the sick one. He must there remain either a specified 
time, four or eight days, or until the navel string falls. 
W ere he to fail in this, death or some disaster would 
befall the infant, with whom, in the native imagination, 
he is linked by mysterious bonds. 1 

The mystery which surrounds the process of repro- 
duction centred more in the female than in the male. 
It was believed she could impart it even to inanimate 
things. When Father Gumilla asked the men of an 
Orinoco tribe why they did not help the women in the 
labors of the field, they replied : " Because women know 
how to bring forth and can tell it to the grain ; but we 
do not know how they do it, and we cannot teach the 
grains." The wife of a Sioux, after she has planted 
her corn patch, will rise in the night, strip herself 
naked and walk around it, thus to impart to the grains 
the magic of her own fecundity. The Pawnees were 
wont to moisten their seed corn with the blood of a 
woman, choosing a female prisoner to supply it. 2 

As a counterpart to the occasional austerities above 
mentioned, there was frequent unbridled licentiousness 

Indias, lib. xvii., cap. 4; Navarrete, Viages, iii., p. 414; Guevara, 
Hist, del Paraguay, cap. viii. 

1 The latest and most satisfactory discussion of the couvade is by 
von den Steinen in his Naturvolker Zentral-Brasiliens, p. 334 (1894). 
It was not confined to South America. Vetancurt describes it in 
full force among the Indians of Parras, in the State of Coahuila 
(Teatro Mexicano, i., p. 417). 

2 Gumilla, Hist. Orinoco, ii., p. 237 ; Schoolcraft, Indian Tribes } 
vol. v., p. 70 ; ibid. Oneota, p. 20. 



PHALLIC WORSHIP. 



175 



in the religious ceremonies. Orgies of this nature were 
of common occurrence among the Algonkins and Iro- 
quois, and are often mentioned in the Jesuit relations ; 
Venegas describes them as frequent among the tribes 
of Lower California ; and Oviedo refers to certain festi- 
vals among the Nicaraguans, during which the women 
of all rank extended to whosoever wished, such privi- 
leges as the matrons of ancient Babylon used to grant 
even to slaves and strangers in the temple of Melitta, as 
one of the duties of religion. In the esoteric cult of 
Nagualism, which prevails widely to-day in Mexico 
and Central America, men and women join in the 
dances in a state of nudity, and the Christian priests 
claim with probability that these rites terminate in 
wild debauches. 1 

This sensual coarseness extended to their stories and 
poetry, and the early missionaries complained with jus- 
tice of the " lascivious songs and indecent dances " (can- 
tareslascivos ybailes indecentes), which in some tribes were 
instituted by the native priests as ceremonies of religion. 2 
Collectors of Indian stories and myths to-day well 
know that it is rarely possible to print these in the 
terms in which they are told around the camp fire. 
They must undergo a rigid expurgation. 

Such excesses passed at times into the ceremonial 
practice of unnatural vices, examples of which we find 
in abundance among the Pueblo Indians of Arizona, 
the natives of Paraguay, the ancient Floridians, the 
Guaycurus of Brazil, and elsewhere. 3 These artificial 

1 Brinton, Nagualism, p. 49. 
F 2 Guevara, Hist, del Paraguay, cap. xi. 

3 Von Martius, Eihnog. und Sprach. Amerikas, p. 75, gives many 
references. It has also been discussed by Dr. Wm. A. Hammond 
and other American writers. 



176 MYTHS OF WATER, FIRE AND THUNDER-STORM. 



hermaphrodites are repeatedly mentioned by the early 
writers, and their continued presence in several of our 
western tribes has been noted by living observers. 

Doubtless in many instances such sensuality as re- 
ferred to was cultivated merely under the guise of re- 
ligion by those who profited by it; for example, the jits 
primse noctis, claimed by the shamans among various 
Brazilian tribes and still conceded among the Tarahu- 
maras of Northern Mexico (Lumholtz). Although it 
is quite possible that this custom arose from a supersti- 
tious fear that the husband would come to some ill 
luck unless his bride yielded herself first to another, 
a notion not at all uncommon in the religions of the 
old world, and asserted to have prevailed among the 
Caribs and Tupis and various tribes of Cuba and Nica- 
ragua. Among the Mundrucus and Guaycurus of Bra- 
zil, the bridegroom remained in an adjacent lodge 
under arms all night. 1 

The mystery that surrounds the shedding of blood 
as the first step toward the creation of a new life, was 
one which the world over impressed the imagination 
of the primitive man. It was the physical sign of 
crossing the threshold into new and strange activities ; 
and hence in a thousand modes it became intertwined 
with the symbolism of his house and his home and his 
pledges of faith to God and man. 2 

The emblem of the phallus with ceremonial associa- 
tions has been observed in various parts of America. 
The women of a tribe in Paraguay carried an image of 

1 Martius, u. s. p. 113 ; Navarrete, Vidges } iii. p. 114 ; Oviedo, 
Hist, de las Indias, Lib. xvii. 

2 See the full and learned study of this subject by Dr. Henry 
Clay Trumbull, The Threshold Convenant (New York, 1896) ; also H. 
L. Strack, Der Blutaberglaube (Munich, 1S92). 



PHALLIC WORSHIP. 



177 



it as an amulet j 1 the soldiers of Cortes noted it in relief 
on the walls of the temples in Panuco ; and other in- 
stances could be quoted. In native American art it 
frequently recurs in relations which authorize us to 
believe that it bore a religious meaning and was con- 
nected with the recognition and adoration of the repro- 
ductive principle in nature. Designs carved in stone 
or baked in terra cotta have been disinterred from the 
ancient graves in the lower Mississippi valley, Florida, 
Michoacan, Tabasco, Peru and elsewhere. 2 It is probable 
that its burial with the corpse referred to an expectation 
of another life hereafter. 

Huge phalli of stone in the shape of pillars have 
been discovered among the ancient ruins of Mexico and 
Yucatan, and the early interpreters of Mexican picto- 
graphic manuscripts inform us that in the symbols 
employed for divination, this was esteemed to be the 
most potent of all. As in the analogous rituals of the 
Greeks and Romans, we have evidence that in America 
also this emblem was correlated or identified with the 
serpent. 5 

The dual division of the gods into male and female 
obtained in America as it does in polytheisms every- 
where ; but it is noteworthy how frequently we come 
upon bisexual or androgynous deities, those who com- 
bine in themselves the functions of both sexes. Such 
in Aztec myth is Tonacatecutli, God of our Life or Flesh. 
Such in the creation myths of the Zufiis is Awonawi- 
lona, the Maker and Container of all, among the Nava- 

1 Lafitau, Meurs des Americains, p. 72, quoting Father Kuis. 

2 Theobert Maler and Andree in Globus, 1896 ; Bull, de la Soc. 
d'Anthrop. de Paris, 1893 ; G. Tarayre, Ezplor. des Beg. Mex., p. 233. 

3 Pedro de los Bios, Codex Vaticanus ; Boban, Cat. dela Coll. 
Goupil, Tom. ii. p. 207 ; Brinton, Ndgualism, pp. 49-50. 

12 



178 MYTHS OF WATER, FIRE AND THUNDER-STORM. 

* jos Ahsonnutli, " the turquoise hermaphrodite," and 
such among the Quiches was Hun Ahpu, the Master of 
Magic, all of them demiurgic deities of the prime, self- 
evolving, " self-begetting " " doubly all-mother and 
doubly all-father," in the words of the Quiche myth 
and various examples could be quoted from tribes in 
more primitive conditions. 

This is not peculiar to the New World. Many of the 
gods of the orient are either epicene, or androgynous. 
Such avowedly were Mithras, Janus, Brahma and, in 
the esoteric doctrine of the cabala, Jehovah. This no- 
tion is not abnormal or monstrous. It is a natural de- 
velopment of deep religious meditation on the nature 
of the first cause. " There is something," observed 
Wilhelm von Humboldt, " in the traits of the divine 
which is opposed to the full and clear expression of 
sexual attributes." As I have remarked in another 
work: ''The gods are spirits, beings of another order 
from man, and the cultivated ethical and aesthetic emo- 
tions protest against classifying them as of either one 
or the other gender. Never can the ideal of beauty, 
either physical or moral, be reached until the charac- 
teristics of sex are lost in the concept of the purely 
human." 2 

The traits and activities of the two sexes as repre- 
sented in the deities which appear in American myths 
offer many curious subjects for investigation. The 
prominence and potency assigned to the female divini- 
ties are very noticeable, whether their power tends 
toward the benefit or the injury of man. The goddess 

1 F. H. Cushing, Zuni Creation Myths, p. 281 ; the Papol Vuh, 
p. 1 ; James Stevenson, in 8th An. Kep. Bur. Eth. , p. 275. 

2 W. v. Humboldt, in his essay TJeber die Mdnnliche und Weiblichc 
Form (Werke, i. ) ; Brinton, The Religious Sentiment, p. 67. 



WOMAN IN MYTHOLOGY. 



179 



Tonantzin, Our Dear Mother, was the most widely loved 
of Nahuatl divinities, and it is because her mantle fell 
upon Our Lady of Guadalupe, that the latter now can 
boast of the most popular shrine in Mexico. When 
Cortes first explored Acalan, the modern Tabasco, he 
found the chief temple of their greatest town dedicated 
to a goddess, not to a god ; and the Isla de las Mugeres, 
off the coast of Yucatan, was so named because all its 
fanes were sacred to female deities. 

Nothing I have found, however, better illustrates the 
high position of woman in the mythologies of these 
cultivated nations than the myths of the Tzentals, a 
Mayan tribe who lived and still live in the Mexican 
State of Chiapas. At the summit of their Olympus 
stood the male god Patol, whose name, from the verb 
pat, means to mould, form or fashion. He it was who 
gave to things their bodies or shapes. The highest of 
the goddesses, his spouse and helper, was Alaghom 
Naom, literally, " she who brings forth mind." To her 
was due the mental or immaterial part of nature ; hence 
another of her names was Iztat Ix, the Mother of 
Wisdom. 1 

Almost equal to this spirituel myth of the Tzentals 
in the lofty position assigned to woman, was that of 
the Tarascas of Mechoacan, a nation ranking high 
among those which merited the epithet of " civilized." 
Their chief goddess was named in their harmonious 
tongue Cueravaperi. "She was held in high esteem 
throughout this whole province, and was constantly 
mentioned in their legends and orations. They spoke 
of her as mother of all the gods and of men as well, 
saying that it was she who sent them to dwell in their 

1 Domingo de Ara, Vocabulario de laLengua Tzeltal, MS. 



180 MYTHS OF WATER, FIRE AND THUNDER-STORM. 

lands and gave them the grains and seeds which they 
cultivated." In the latter role, as another Ceres, she 
was the goddess of the rains, the springs and. the 
waters. Four attendant goddesses (the spirits of the 
cardinal points) waited upon her, and to stand for 
these at her festivals, four priests were clad in the sym- 
bolic hues, white, yellow, red and black, "to represent 
the four colors of the clouds," which she sent forth 
from her dwelling place in the east. 1 

From a far distant locality, from the bleak shores of 
Greenland and Labrador, we may take a goddess-myth 
not less striking and beautiful. It tells of Sedna, a 
divine woman, the supreme being of the Eskimo people, 
creator of all things having life, protecting divinity of 
their tribes. She established the regulations for the 
purity of women, and punishes them with disease if 
they are negligent. In another capacity she is mistress 
of one of the underworlds, where she lies in wait for 
souls ; and she it is, when the wintry storms hurl the 
ice masses against the rocky shores, who screams in the 
blast, and watches to snatch the unwary seal-hunter to 
her murk abode. 2 

It was said of the Tarascan goddess that she was not 
averse to human sacrifices, and that the blood of vic- 
tims was cast into the springs sacred to her cult: but 
precisely the opposite is recorded of the goddess who 
occupied a similar lofty position in the religion of the 
Totonacos, a civilized tribe who lived near where Vera 
Cruz now is. The name that was applied to her meant 
" The Sustainer of our Life," and her attributes were 

1 Relation de los Hitos de Mechoacan, in Coll. de Doc. para la 
Hist, de Espana, vol. 53. 

2 Dr. Franz Boas, The Central Eskimo, in 6th An. Hep. Bur. of 
HthnoL, pp. 583 sqq. 



THE RECIPROCAL PRINCIPLE. 



181 



similar to the Ceres of Michoacan ; but no human sac- 
rifices were allowed in her temples, and her priests 
were vowed to chastity, simplicity of life, silence unless 
addressed, and an exclusively vegetarian diet. Her 
shrines were built on the summits of hills, and so 
closely did her sweet and merciful ritual parallel that 
assigned by the Roman Church to the Virgin Mary, 
that the early missionaries declared that it could have 
been inspired only by the Devil with the intent of foil- 
ing their labors. 1 

By a flight of fancy inspired by a study of Oriental 
mythology, the worship of the reciprocal principle in 
America has been connected with that of the sun and 
the moon, as the primitive pair from whose fecund 
union all creatures proceeded. It is sufficient to say 
that this relation is rarely and vaguely expressed in 
the myths, and in many instances is inconsistent with 
the terms employed to designate these celestial bodies. 
The moon is often mentioned in their languages merely 
as the " night sun." Among the Mbocobis of Paraguay 
the sun was styled the female companion, compafiera, 
of the moon. 2 In such important stocks as the Iro- 
quois, Athapascas, Cherokees and Tupis, the sun is 
also said to be regarded as feminine. The myths rep- 
resent them more frequently as brother and sister 
than as man and wife ; nor did at least the northern 
tribes regard the sun as the cause of fecundity in 
nature at all, but solely as giving light and warmth. 3 

Almost racial in its universality was the red man's 
veneration of the thunder-storm as a manifestation 

\ 1 Mendieta, Hist. JEclesiastica Indiana, lib. ii. cap. ix. ; Las 
Casas, Hist. Apologetica, cap. 121. 

2 P. Guevara, Hist, del Paraguay, cap. xv. 

3 Schoolcraft, Indian Tribes, v. pp. 416, 417. 



182 MYTHS OF WATER, FIRE AND THUND ER-STORM. 

of divine power and as that which brings warmth and 
rain with the renewed vernal life of vegetation. The 
impressive phenomena which characterize it, the pro- 
digious noise, the awful flash, the portentous gloom, 
the blast, the rain, have left a profound impression on 
the myths of every land. Fire from water, warmth and 
moisture from the destructive breath of the tempest, 
this was the riddle of riddles to the untutored mind. 
" Out of the eater came forth meat, out of the strong 
came forth sweetness." It was the visible synthesis of 
all the divine manifestations, the winds, the waters, and 
the flames. 

The Dakotas conceived it as a struggle between the 
god of waters and the thunder bird for the command 
of their nation; 1 and as a bird, one of those which 
make a whirring sound with their wings, the turkey, 
the pheasant, or the nighthawk, it was very generally 
depicted by their neighbors, the Athapascas, the Iro- 
quois, and Algonquins. 2 As the herald of the summer 
it was to them a good omen, and friendly power. It was 
the voice of the Great Spirit oi the four winds speak- 
ing from the clouds and admonishing them that the 
time of corn planting was at hand. 3 

The flames kindled by the lightning were of a sacred 
nature, properly to be employed in lighting the fires of 
the religious rites, but on no account to be profaned by 
the base uses of daily life. When the flash entered the 

1 Mrs. Eastman, Legends of the Sioux, p. 161. 

2 Bel. de la Nouv. France, 1634, p. 27 ; Schoolcraft, Algic Re- 
searches, ii. p. 116; Ind. Tribes, v. p. 420; an article by A. F. 
Chamberlain on " the thunder bird among the Algoukins " is in 
Amer. Anthropologist, Jan. 1890. 

3 De Smet, Western Missions, p. 135 ; Schoolcraft, Ind. Tribes, i. 
p. 319. 



THUNDER-MYTHS. 



183 



ground it scattered in all directions those stones, such 
as the flint, which betray their supernal origin by a 
gleam of fire when struck. These were the thunder- 
bolts, and from such an one, significantly painted red, 
the Dakotas averred their race proceeded. 1 For are we 
not all in a sense indebted for our lives to fire ? 

" There is no end to the fancies entertained by the 
Sioux concerning thunder," observes Mrs. Eastman. 
They typified the paradoxical nature of the storm un- 
der the character of the giant Haokah. To him cold 
was heat, and heat cold; when sad he laughed, when 
merry groaned; the sides of his face and his eyes were 
of different colors and expressions ; he wore horns or a 
forked headdress to represent the lightning, and with 
his hands he hurled the meteors. His manifestations 
were fourfold, and one of the four winds was the drum- 
stick he used to produce the thunder. 2 

Omitting many others, enough that the sameness of 
this conception is illustrated by the myth oi Tupa, 
highest god and first man of the Tupis of Brazil. Dur- 
ing his incarnation, he taught them agriculture, gave 
them fire, the cane, and the pisang, and now in the 
form of a huge bird sweeps over the heavens, watching 
his children and watering their crops, admonishing 
them of his presence by the mighty sound of his voice, 
the rustling of his wings, and the flash of his eye. 
These are the thunder, the lightning, and the roar of 

1 Mrs. Eastman, Legends of the Sioux, p. 72. By another legend 
they claimed that their first ancestor obtained his fire from the 
sparks which a friendly panther struck from the rocks as he scam- 
pered up a stony hill (McCoy, Hist, of Baptist Indian Missions, 
p. 364). 

2 Mrs. Eastman, ubi sup., p. 158; Schoolcraft, Tnd. Tribes, iv. 
p. 645. 



184 MYTHS OF WATER, FIRE AND THUNDER-STORM. 

the tempest. He is depicted with horns ; he was one of 
four brothers, and only after a desperate struggle did he 
drive his fraternal rivals from the field. In his worship, 
the priests place pebbles in a dry gourd, deck it with 
feathers and arrows, and rattling it vigorously, repro- 
duce in miniature the tremendous drama of the storm. 1 
As nations rose in civilization these fancies put on 
a more complex form and a more poetic fulness. 
Throughout the realm of the Incas the Peruvians vene- 
rated as creator of all things, maker of heaven and 
earth, and ruler of the firmament, the god Ataguju. 
The legend was that from him proceeded the first of 
mortals, the man Guamansuri, who descended to the 
earth and there seduced the sister of certain Guache- 
nrines, rayless ones, or Darklings, who then possessed 
it. For this crime they destroyed him, but their sister 
proved pregnant, and died in her labor, giving birth to 
two eggs. 

From these emerged the twin brothers, Apocatequil 
and Piguerao. The former was the more powerful. By 
touching the corpse of his mother he brought her to 
life, he drove off and slew the Guachemines, and, 
directed by Ataguju, released the race of Indians from 
the soil by turning it up with a spade of gold. For 
this reason they adored him as their maker. He it was, 
they thought, who produced the thunder and the light- 
ning by hurling stones with his sling ; and the thunder- 
bolts that fall, said they, are his children. 

1 Waitz, Anthropologic, iii. p. 417 ; Mtiller, Am. Urrelig., p. 271, 
from various early authorities. Tupa was distinctly the god of 
the thunderstorm and the word is still so applied in the Tupi dia- 
lects (Adam, Grammaire Tupi, 1895). As the rain-god, it was he, 
said the Guaranis, who saved their ancestors in the universal 
deluge '.Guevara, Hint, del Paraguay, cap. xix.) 



SACRED TWINS. 



185 



Few villages were willing to be without one or more 
of these. They were in appearance small, round, 
smooth stones, but had the admirable properties of 
securing fertility to the fields, protecting from lightning, 
and, by a transition easy to understand, were also 
adored as gods of the Fire, as well material as of the 
passions, and were capable of kindling the dangerous 
flames of desire in the most frigid bosom. Therefore 
they were in great esteem as love charms. 

ApocatequiPs statue was erected on the mountains, 
with that of his mother on one hand, and his brother 
on the other. " He was Prince of Evil and the most 
respected god of the Peruvians. From Quito to Cuzco 
not an Indian but would give all he possessed to con- 
ciliate him. Five priests, two stewards, and a crowd 
of slaves served his image. And his chief temple was 
surrounded by a very considerable village whose inhab- 
itants had no other occupation than to wait on him." 

In memory of these brothers, twins in Peru were 
deemed always sacred to the lightning, and when a 
woman or even a llama brought them forth, a fast was 
held and sacrifices offered to the two pristine brothers, 
with a chant commencing : A chuchu cachiqui, u 0 Thou 
who causest twins," words mistaken by the Spaniards 
for the name of a deity. 1 

1 On the myth of Catequil see particularly the Lettre sur les 
Superstitions du Perou, p. 95 sqq., and compare Montesinos, Ancien 
Perou, chaps, ii. , xx. The letters g and j do not exist in Quichua, 
therefore Ataguja should doubtless read Aki-chuchu, which means 
lord, or ruler of the twins, from ati root of atini, I am able, I con- 
trol, and chuchu, twins. The change of the root ati to ata, though 
uncommon in Quichua, occurs also in atahualpa, cock, from ati and 
hualpa, fowl. Apo-Catequil, or as given by Arriaga, another old 
writer on Peruvian idolatry, Apocatequilla, I take to be properly 



186 MYTHS OF WATER, FIRE AND THVXDER-STORM. 



Garcilasso de la Vega, a descendant of the Incas, has 
preserved an ancient indigenous poem of his nation, 
presenting the storm myth in a different form, which 
as undoubtedly authentic and not devoid of poetic 
beauty I translate, preserving as much as possible the 
trochaic tetrasyllable verse of the original Quichua : — 

" Beauteous princess, 
Lo, thy brother 
Breaks thy vessel 
Now in fragments. 
From the blow come 
Thunder, lightning, 
Strokes of lightning. 
And thou, princess, 
Tak'st the water, 
With it rainest, 
And the hail, or 
Snow dispensest, 
Viracocha, 
World constructor, 

apu-ccatee-quilla, which literally means chief of the followers of the 
moon. Acosta mentions that the native name for various constella- 
tions was catachillay or catuchittay, doubtless corruptions of catec 
quitta, literally "following the moon." Catequil, therefore, the 
dark spirit of the storm rack, was also appropriately enough, and 
perhaps primarily, lord of the night and stars. Piguerao, where 
the g appears again, is probably a compound of piscu, bird, and 
uira, white. Guachemines seems clearly the word hauchi, a ray 
of light or an arrow, with the negative suffix ymana, thus meaning 
rayless, as in the text, or ymana ma/ mean an excess as well as a 
want of anything beyond what is natural, which would give the 
signification "very bright shining." (Holguin, Arte de la Lengua 
Quichua, p. 106 : Cuzco, 1607.) Is this sister of theirs the Dawn, 
who, as in the Big Veda, brings forth at the cost of her own life 
the white and dark twins, the Day and the Night, the latter of 
whom drives from the heavens the far-shooting arrows of light, 
in order that he may restore his mother again to life ? 



NATIVE TRINITY. 



187 



World enliv'ner, 
To this office 
Thee appointed, 
Thee created." 1 

In this pretty waif that has floated down to us from 
the wreck of a literature now forever lost, there is more 
than one point to attract the notice of the antiquary. 
He may find in it a hint to decipher those names of 
divinities so common in Peruvian legends, Contici and 
Illatici. Both mean "the Thunder Vase," and both 
doubtless refer to the conception here displayed of the 
phenomena of the thunder-storm. 2 

Again, twice in this poem is the triple nature of the 
storm adverted to. This is observable in many of the 
religions of America, It constitutes a sort of Trinity, 
not resembling that of Christianity, nor yet the Tri- 
murti of India, but doubtless founded on the same 
psychic laws. Thus in the Quiche legends we read : 
" The first of Hurakan is the lightning, the second the 
track of the lightning, and the third the stroke of the 

1 Hist, des Incas, liv. ii. cap. 28. It is repeated, with correc- 
tions, in the works of Von Tschudi and Middendorf. 

2 The latter is a compound of tici or ticcu } a vase, and ylla, the 
root of yllani, to shine, ylhcpantac, it thunders and lightens. The 
former is from tici and cun or con, whence by reduplication cun- 
un-un-an, it thunders. From cun and tura, brother, is probably 
derived cuntur, the condor, the flying thunder-cloud being looked 
upon as a great bird also. Von Tschudi, in his excellent study 
of this Peruvian myth, is not willing to connect the deity Con 
with the storm, the rain or fire, and denies correlation of the word 
to these ideas (Beitrage zur Kenntniss des Alten Peru, p. 179). In 
answer I adduce the Quichua words, cun-pay, the crackling of 
fire, konoy, to build a great fire, koncha, the fire-place, etc. 
(Middendorf, Worterbuch der Keshua-Sprache) . 



188 MYTHS OF WATER, FIRE AND THUNDER-STORM. 



lightning ; and these three are Hurakan, the Heart of 
the Sky." 1 

It reappears with characteristic uniformity of out- 
line in Iroquois mythology. Heno, the thunder, 
gathers the clouds and pours out the warm rains. 
Therefore he was the patron of husbandry. He was 
invoked at seed time and harvest ; and as purveyor of 
nourishment he was addressed as grandfather, and his 
worshippers styled themselves his grandchildren. He 
rode through the heavens on the clouds, and the thun- 
derbolts which split the forest trees were the stones he 
hurled at his enemies. Three assistants were assigned 
him, whose names have unfortunately not been re- 
corded, and whose offices were apparently similar to 
those of the three companions of Hurakan. 2 Among 
the Tupis of Brazil, according to a careful student, 
their highest mythical conception was of three deities, 
the one representing the animal, the second the vege- 
table kingdom, and the third the productive union of 
the two, the god of love, Peruda. 3 

So also the Aztecs supposed that Tlaloc, god of rains 
and the waters, ruler of the terrestrial paradise and the 
season of summer, manifested himself under the three 
attributes of the flash, the thunderbolt, and the thun- 
der. 4 Among the Dakotas, each wind or world-quar- 
ter was reckoned as three, making with the sacred 
centre, thirteen in all. 5 

1 Le Livre Sacre, p. 9. The name of the lightning in Quiche* 
is cak ul ha, literally, "fire coming from water. " 

2 Morgan, League of the Iroquois, p. 158. 

3 Conto de Magelhaes, 0 Selvagem, vol. ii. p. 123. 

4 " El rayo, el relampago, y el trueno. ' ' Gama, Des. de las dos 
Piedras, etc., ii. p. 76. The sacredness of the three was also retained 
by the Nagualists (Brinton, Nagualism, p. 41). 

5 Dorsey, Siouan Cults, p. 537. The Navahos believe that twelve 



THUNDERBOLTS. 



189 



But this conception of three in one was above the 
comprehension of the masses, and consequently these 
deities were also spoken of as fourfold in nature, three 
and one. Moreover, as has already been pointed out, 
the thunder god was usually ruler of the winds, and thus 
another reason for his quadruplicate nature was sug- 
gested. Hurakan, Haokah, Tlaloc, and probably Heno, 
are plural as well as singular nouns, and are used as 
nominatives to verbs in both numbers. Tlaloc was ap- 
pealed to as inhabiting each of the cardinal points and 
every mountain top. His statue rested on a square 
stone pedestal, facing the east, and had in one hand a 
serpent of gold. Ribbons of silver, crossing to form 
squares, covered the robe, and the shield was composed 
of feathers of four colors, yellow, green, red and blue. 
Before it was a vase containing all sorts of grain ; and 
the clouds were called his companions, the winds his 
messengers. 1 

As elsewhere, the thunderbolts were believed to be 
flints, and thus, as the emblem of fire and the storm, 
this stone figures conspicuously in their myths. Tohil, 
the god who gave the Quiches fire by shaking his san- 
dals, was represented by a flint-stone. Such a stone, 
in the beginning of things, fell from heaven to earth, 
and broke into 1600 pieces, each of which sprang up a 
god f an ancient legend, which shadows forth the sub- 
jection of all things to him who gathers the clouds 

men live at each of the cardinal points. Their duty is to hold up 
the heavens, to which they were assigned by the hermaphrodite 
demiurge, Ahsonnutli (James Stevenson, in 8th An. Kep. Bur. of 
EthnoL, p. 275). 

1 Torquemada, Monarquia Indiana, lib. vi. cap. 23. Gama, ubi 
sup. ii. 76, 77. 

2 Torquemada, ibid., lib. vi. cap. 41. 



190 MYTHS OF WATER, FIRE AND THUNDER-STORM. 

from the four corners of the earth, who thunders with 
his voice, who satisfies with his rain "the desolate and 
waste ground, and causes the tender herb to spring 
forth." 

This is the germ of the adoration of stones as em- 
blems of the fecundating rains. This is why, for ex- 
ample, the Navajos use as their charm for rain certain 
long round stones, which they think fall from the cloud 
when it thunders. 1 With similar imagery, the Chotas 
of Mexico continued to a late day the worship of their 
trinity, the Dawn, the Stone, and the Serpent. 2 

Mixcoatl, the Cloud Serpent, or Iztac-Mixcoatl, the 
White or Gleaming Cloud Serpent, said to have been 
the only divinity of the ancient Chichimecs, held in 
high honor by the Nahuas, Nicaraguans, and Otomis, 
and identical with Taras, supreme god of the Tarascos 
and Camaxtli, god of the Teo- Chichimecs, is another 
personification of the thunder-storm. To this day this 
is the familiar name of the tropical tornado in the Mexi- 
can language. 3 

He was represented, like Jove, with a bundle of ar- 
rows in his hand, the thunderbolts. Both the Nahuas 
and Tarascos related legends in which he figured as 
father of the race of man. Like other lords of the 
lightning he was worshipped as the dispenser of riches 
and the patron of traffic ; and in Nicaragua his image 
is described as being " engraved stones," 4 probably the 
supposed products of the thunder. 

1 Senate Report on the Indian Tribes, p. 358 (Washington, 1867). 

2 Diccionario Universal, App. Tom. iii. p. 11. Brinton, Nagual- 
ism, p. 41. 

3 Brasseur, Hist, du Mexique, i. p. 201, and on the extent of his 
worship Waitz, AnthropoL , iv. p. 144. 

* Oviedo, Hist, du Nicaragua, p. 47. 



SUPREME GODS. 



191 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE SUPREME GODS OF THE RED RACE. 

Analysis of American culture myths. — The Manibozho or Michabo 
of the Algonkins shown to be an impersonation of Light, a 
hero of the Dawn, and their highest deity. —The myths of Ios- 
keha of the Iroquois, Viracocha of the Peruvians, and Quetzal- 
coatl of the Toltecs essentially the same as that of Michabo. — 
Other examples. — Ante-Columbian prophecies of the advent of 
a white race from the east as conquerors. — Rise of later culture 
myths under similar forms. 

HHHE philosopher Machiavelli, commenting on the 
■ books of Livy, lays it down as a general truth 
that every form and reform has been brought about by 
a single individual. Since a remorseless criticism has 
shorn so many heroes of their laurels, our faith in the 
maxim of the great Florentine wavers, and the suspicion 
is created that the popular fancy which personifies under 
one figure every social revolution is an illusion. It 
springs from that tendency to hero-worship, ineradica- 
ble in the heart of the race, which leads every nation 
to have an ideal, the imagined author of its prosperity, 
the father of his country, and the focus of its legends. 

As has been hinted, history is not friendly to their 
renown, and dissipates them altogether into phantoms 
of the brain, or sadly dims the lustre of their fame. 
Arthur, bright star of chivalry, dwindles into a Welsh 
subaltern ; the Cid Campeador, defender of the faith, 



192 THE SUPREME GODS OF THE BED RACE. 

sells his sworcl as often to Moslem as to Christian, and 
sells it ever; while Siegfried and Feridun vanish into 
nothings. 

As elsewhere the world over, so in America many 
tribes had to tell of such a personage, some such august 
character, who taught them what they knew, the tillage 
of the soil, the properties of plants, the art of picture 
writing, the secrets of magic ; who founded their insti- 
tutions and established their religions, who governed 
them long with glory abroad and peace at home ; and 
finally, did not die, but like Frederick Barbarossa, 
Charlemagne, King Arthur, and all great heroes, van- 
ished mysteriously, and still lives somewhere, ready at 
the right moment to return to his beloved people and 
lead them to victory and happiness. 

Such to the Algonkins was Michabo or Manibozho, 
to the Iroquois Ioskeha, Wasi to the Cherokees, Tamoi 
to the Caribs; so the Mayas had Itzamna, the Nahuas 
Quetzalcoatl, the Muyscas Nemqueteba; such among 
the Quichuas was Viracocha, among the Mandans Nu- 
mock-muckenah, among the Hidatsa Itamapisa, and 
among the natives of the Orinoko Amalivaca; and the 
catalogue could be extended indefinitely. 

It is not always easy to pronounce upon these heroes, 
whether they belong to history or mythology, their na- 
tion's poetry or its prose. In arriving at a conclusion 
we must remember that a fiction built on an idea is in- 
finitely more tenacious of life than a story founded on 
fact. Further, that if a striking similarity in the legends 
of two such heroes be discovered under circumstances 
which forbid the thought that one was derived from 
the other, then both are probably mythical. If this is 
the case in not two but in half a dozen instances, then 
the probability amounts to a certainty, and the only 



CULTURE-MYTHS. 



193 



task remaining is to explain such narratives on con- 
sistent mythological principles. 

If after sifting out all foreign and later traits, it 
appears that when first known to Europeans, these 
heroes were assigned all the attributes of highest 
divinity, were the imagined creators and rulers of the 
world, and mightiest of spiritual powers, then their 
position must be set far higher than that of deified 
men. They must be accepted as the supreme gods of 
the red race, the analogues in the western continent of 
Jupiter, Osiris, and Odin in the eastern, and whatever 
opinions contrary to this may have been advanced by 
writers and travellers must be set down to the account 
of that prevailing ignorance of American mythology 
which has fathered so many other blunders. It would 
not be inconsistent with this view if along with these 
hero-gods there existed some vague faith in an abstract, 
remote Cause of All, occasionally present to the reflect- 
ing mind of the worshipper. Such an abstraction, like 
the metaphysical definitions of God in higher creeds, 
is not the active leaven of the religious emotions ; this 
must ever be connected in some way with a personifi- 
cation of the divine attributes ; be, as more or less 
crudely understood, the Word made Flesh. 

To solve these knotty points I shall choose for analy- 
sis the culture myths of the Algonkins, the Iroquois, 
the Toltecs of Mexico, and the Quichuas or Peruvians, 
guided in my choice by the fact that these four families 
are the best known, and, in many points of view, the 
most important on the continent. 

From the remotest wilds of the northwest to the 
coast of the Atlantic, from the southern boundaries of 
Carolina to the cheerless swamps of Hudson Ba}^ the 
Algonkins were never tired of gathering around the 

13 



194 



THE SUBBEME GODS OF THE BED BAOE. 



winter fire and repeating the story of Manibozho or 
Michabo, the Great Hare. With entire unanimity their 
various branches, the Powhatans of Virginia, the Lenni 
Lenape of the Delaware, the warlike hordes of New 
England, the Ottawas of the far north, and the western 
tribes perhaps without exception, spoke of " this 
chimerical beast," as one of the old missionaries calls 
it, as their common ancestor. The totem or clan which 
bore his name was looked up to with peculiar respect. 

In many of the tales which the whites have preserved 
of Michabo he seems half a wizard, half a simpleton. 
He is full of pranks and wiles, but often at a loss for a 
meal of victuals ; ever itching to try his arts magic on 
great beasts and often meeting ludicrous failures there- 
in ; envious of the powers of others, and constantly 
striving to outdo them in what they do best ; in short, 
little more than a malicious buffoon delighting in 
practical jokes, and abusing his superhuman powers for 
selfish and ignoble ends. But this is a low, modern, 
and corrupt version of the character of Michabo, bear- 
ing no more resemblance to his real and ancient one 
than the language and acts of our Saviour and the 
apostles in the coarse Mystery Plays of the Middle Ages 
do to those recorded by the Evangelists. 1 

What he really was we must seek in the accounts of 
older travellers, in the invocations of the jossakeeds or 

1 Another example of such modern deterioration is shown by 
the Brazilian stories of Curupira. They represent him as an imp 
and a buffoon ; but the oldest travellers, De Laet for example, 
speak of him as numen mentium, and a dignified member of the 
pantheon. See C. F. Harrt, 0 Mytho do Curupira, in the Aurora 
Brasileira, 1873, and the excellent collection of nature myths by 
J. Barbosa Bodriguez, Poranduba Amazonense, Introd. (Eio de 
Janeiro, 1890). 



THE GREAT HARE. 



195 



prophets, and in the part assigned to him in the solemn 
mysteries of religion. In these we find him portrayed 
as the patron and founder of the meda worship, 1 the 
inventor of picture writing, the father and guardian of 
their nation, the ruler of the winds, even the maker and 
preserver of the world and creator of the sun and moon. 

From a grain of sand brought from the bottom of 
the primeval ocean, he fashioned the habitable land 
and set it floating on the waters, till it grew to such a 
size that a strong young wolf, running constantly, died 
of old age ere he reached its limits. Under the name 
Michabo Ovisaketchak, the Great Hare who created the 
Earth, he was originally the highest divinity recognized 
by them, " powerful and beneficent beyond all others, 
maker of the heavens and the world." 

He was the founder of the medicine hunt in which 
after appropriate ceremonies and incantations the In- 
dian sleeps, and Michabo appears to him in a dream, 
and tells him where he may readily kill game. He 
himself was a mighty hunter of old ; one of his foot- 
steps measured eight leagues, the Great Lakes were the 
beaver dams he built, and when the cataracts impeded 
his progress he tore them away with his hands. 

Attentively watching the spider spread its web to 
trap unwary flies, he devised the art of knitting nets 
to catch fish, and the signs and charms he tested and 
handed down to his descendants are of marvellous effi- 
cacy in the chase. In the autumn, in " the moon of 
the falling leaf," ere he composes himself to his winter's 

1 The meda worship is the ordinary religious ritual of the Al- 
gonkins. It consists chiefly in exhibitions of legerdemain, and in 
conjuring and exorcising demons. A jossakeed is an inspired 
prophet who derives his power directly from the higher spirits, 
and not as the medawin, by instruction and practice. 



196 



THE SUPREME GODS OF THE BED RACE. 



sleep, he fills his great pipe and takes a godlike smoke. 
The balmy clouds float over the hills and woodlands, 
filling the air with the haze of the " Indian summer." 

Sometimes he was said to dwell in the skies with his 
brother the snow, or, like many great spirits, to have 
built his wigwam in the far north on some floe of ice 
in the Arctic Ocean; while the Chippeways localized 
his birthplace and former home to the Island Michili- 
makinac at the outlet of Lake Superior. But in the 
oldest accounts of the missionaries he was alleged to 
reside toward the east, and in the holy formulae of the 
meda craft, when the winds are invoked to the medi- 
cine lodge, the east is summoned in his name, the door 
opens in that direction, and there, at the edge of the 
earth, where the sun rises, on the shore of the infinite 
ocean that surrounds the land, he has his house and 
sends the luminaries forth on their daily journeys. 1 

It is passing strange that such an insignificant crea- 
ture as the rabbit should have received this apotheosis. 
No explanation of it in the least satisfactory has ever 
been offered. Some have pointed it out as a senseless, 
meaningless brute worship. It leads to the suspicion 
that there may lurk here one of those confusions of 

i For these particulars see the Rel. de la Nouv. France, 1667, p. 
12, 1670, p. 93 ; Charlevoix, Journal Historique, p. 344 ; Schoolcraft, 
Indian Tribes, v. pp. 420 sqq. ; Alex. Henry, Travs. in Canada 
andthelnd. Territories, pp. 212 sqq.; Nic. Perrot, Mem. surVAmer. 
Sept., pp. 12, 19, 339 (1665); Blomes, State of his Ma). Terr., p. 
193 ; Strachey, Travaile into Virginia, p. 98, etc. Of the many 
modern writers who have studied the myth, I name J. G. Kohl, 
C. G. Leland, T. L. McKinney, J. I. Hindley, A. F. Chamberlain, 
S. T. Eand, W. J. Hoffman, etc. Dr. Hoffman (American Anthro- 
pologist, July, 1889) makes Manibozho the servant of Dje Manedo, 
the Great Spirit. This is a frequent, but modern, variant of the 
ancient myth. 



THE RABBIT MYTH. 



197 



words which have so often led to confusion of ideas in 
mythology. 

Manibozho, Nanibojou, Missibizi, Michabo, Messou, 
all variations of the same name in different dialects 
rendered according to different orthographies, scruti- 
nize them closely as we may, they all seem compounded 
according to well ascertained laws of Algonkin euphony 
from the words corresponding to great and hare or rabbit, 
or the first two perhaps from spirit and hare (michi, great, 
wabos, hare, manito wabos, spirit hare, Chipeway dialect), 
and so they have invariably been translated even by 
the Indians themselves. 1 But looking more narrowly 
at the second member of the word, it is clearly capable 
of another and very different interpretation, of an in- 
terpretation which discloses at once the origin and the 
secret meaning of the whole story of Michabo, in the 
light of which it appears no longer the incoherent 
fable of savages, but a true myth, instinct with nature, 
pregnant with matter, nowise inferior to those which 
fascinate in the chants of the Rig Veda, or the weird 
pages of the Edda. 

1 The rabbit called wabos is the small gray rabbit. It reappears 
in Iroquois and Cherokee folk-tales. In the latter it overcomes 
one of the demi-gods and blows him to pieces, the fragments be- 
coming the bits of flint or chert which were found in their land 
(J. Mooney, in Jour. Amer. Folk-lore, vol. ii. No. 4). In the 
Siouan legends it is so cunning that it tricks Ikto, the most crafty 
of beings and the discoverer of human speech (Dorsey, Study of 
Siouan Cults, p. 472). Among the Nahuas the " Man in the Moon " 
was called a rabbit, and the calendar count began with the day 
named after this animal, Tochtli. In the mystic language of the 
Nagualists the rabbit represented the air or wind (De la Serna, 
Manual de Ministros, p. 223). Two gentes among the Algonkins 
were called from it. Many other instances could be cited of its 
prominent position in native mythology. 



198 TEE SUPREME GODS OF THE RED RACE. 

On a previous page I have emphasized with what 
might have seemed superfluous force, how prominent 
in primitive mythology is the east, the source of the 
morning, the day-spring on high, the cardinal point 
which determines and controls all others. But I did 
not lay as much stress on it as. others have. "The 
whole theogony and philosophy of the ancient world," 
says Max Muller, " centred in the Dawn, the mother 
of the bright gods, of the Sun in his various aspects, 
of the morn, the day, the spring ; herself the brilliant 
image and visage of immortality. 1 

Now it appears on attentively examining the Algon- 
kin root wab, that it gives rise to words of very diverse 
meaning, that like many others in all languages, while 
presenting but one form it represents ideas of wholly 
unlike origin and application, that in fact there are two 
distinct roots having this sound. One is the initial 
syllable of the word translated hare or rabbit, but the 
other means white, and from it is derived the words for 
the east, the dawn, the light, the day, and the morning. 2 
Beyond a doubt this is the compound in the names 
Michabo and Manibozho, which therefore mean the 
Great Light, the Spirit of Light, of the Dawn, or the 
East, and in the literal sense of the word the Great 
White One, as indeed he has sometimes been called. 

1 Science of Language, Second Series, p. 518. 

2 Dialectic forms in Algonkin for white, are wabi, wape, ivompi, 
waubish, oppai ; for morning, wapan, wapaneh, opah ; for east, wapa, 
waubun, waubamo ; for dawn, wapa, waubun ; for day, wompan, oppan ; 
for light, oppung ; and many others similar. In the Abnaki 
dialect, ivanbighen, it is white, is the customary idiom to express 
the breaking of the day, as it was with the Latins, albente codo. 
Cuoq, Lexique Algonquine, p. 413 ; Lacombe, Diet, de la Langue des 
Oris, p. 635, etc. 



MANIBOZZO. 



199 



In this sense all the ancient and authentic myths 
concerning him are plain and full of meaning. They 
divide themselves into two distinct C} f cles. In the one 
Michabo is the spirit of light who dispels the dark- 
ness; in the other as chief of the cardinal points he 
is lord of the winds, prince of the powers of the air, 
whose voice is the thunder, whose weapon the light- 
ning, the supreme figure in the encounter of the air 
currents, in the unending conflict which the Dakotas 
described as waged by the waters and the winds. 

In the first he is grandson of the moon, his father is 
the West Wind, and his mother, a maiden, dies in giv- 
ing him birth at the moment of conception. For the 
moon is the goddess of light, the Dawn is her daugh- 
ter, who brings forth the morning and perishes herself 
in the act, and the West, the spirit of darkness as the 
East is of light, precedes and as it were begets the latter 
as the evening does the morning. 

Straightway, however, continues the legend, the son 
sought the unnatural father to revenge the death of 
his mother, and then commenced a long and desperate 
struggle. " It began on the mountains. The West was 
forced to give ground. Manibozho drove him across 
rivers and over mountains and lakes, and at last 
he came to the brink of this world. ' Hold,' cried he, 
i my son, you know my power and that it is impossi- 
ble to kill me.' m What is this but the diurnal combat 
of light and darkness, carried on from what time 
"the jocund morn stands tiptoe on the misty moun- 
tain, tops," across the wide world to the sunset, the 
struggle that knows no end, for both the opponents are 
immortal ? 

1 Schoolcraft, Algie Researches, i. pp. 135-142. 



200 



THE SUPREME GODS OF THE BED RACE. 



In the second, and evidently to the native mind 
more important cycle of legends, he was represented 
as one of four brothers, the North, the South, the East, 
and the West, all born at a birth, whose mother died 
in ushering them into the world j 1 for hardly has the 
kindling orient served to fix the cardinal points than 
it is lost and dies in the advancing day. 

Yet it is clear that he was something more than a 
personification of the east or the east wind, for it is 
repeatedly said that it was he who assigned their duties 
to all the winds, to that of the east as well as the others. 
This is a blending of his two characters. Here, too, 
his life is a battle. No longer with his father, indeed, 
but with his brother Chakekenapok, the flint-stone, 
whom he broke in pieces and scattered over the land, 
and changed his entrails into fruitful vines. 

The conflict was long and terrible. The face of na- 
ture was desolated as by a tornado, and the gigantic 

1 The names of the four brothers, Wabun, Kabun, Kabibonokka, 
and Shawano, express in Algonkin both the cardinal points and 
the winds which blow from them. In another version of the 
legend, first reported by Father De Smet and quoted by Schoolcraft 
without acknowledgment, they are Nanaboojoo, Chipiapoos, Wa- 
bosso, and Chakekenapok. See for the support of the text, School- 
craft, Algic Res., ii. p. 214 ; De Smet, Oregon Missions, p. 347, and 
authors above mentioned. Lederer gives their names in the Vir- 
ginian dialect as Pash, Sepoy, Askarin, and Maraskarin (Discov- 
eries, p. 4). When Captain Argoll visited the Potomac in 1610 a 
chief told him : "We have five gods in all ; our chief god ap- 
pears often unto us in the form of a mighty great hare ; the other 
four have no visible shape, but are indeed the four winds which 
keep the four corners of the earth" (Strachey, Virginia, p. 98). 
The modern connection of the Michabo legend with the cardinal 
points and colors is well shown in the article of Dr. Hoffman above 
referred to. 



RULER OF THE WINDS. 



201 



boulders and loose rocks found on the prairies are the 
missiles hurled by the mighty combatants. Or else 
his foe was the glittering prince of serpents whose 
abode was the lake ; or was the shining Manito whose 
home was guarded by fiery serpents and a deep sea ; 
or was the great king of fishes ; all symbols of the at- 
mospheric waters, all figurative descriptions of the wars 
of the elements. 

In these affrays the thunder and lightning are at his 
command, and with them he destroys his enemies. 
For this reason the Chipeway pictography represents 
him brandishing a rattlesnake, the symbol of the elec- 
tric flash, 1 and sometimes they called him the North- 
west Wind, which in the region they inhabit usually 
brings the thunder-storms. 

As ruler of the winds he was, like Quetzalcoatl, father 
and protector of all species of birds, their symbols. 2 
He was patron of hunters, for their course is guided 
by the cardinal points. Therefore, when the medicine 
hunt had been successful, the prescribed sign of grati- 
tude to him was to scatter a handful of the animal's 
blood toward each of these. 3 As daylight brings vision, 
and to see is to know, it was no fable that gave him as 
the author of their arts, their wisdom, and their insti- 
tutions. 

In effect, his story is a world-wide truth, veiled under 
a thin garb of fancy. It is but a variation of that nar- 
rative which every race has to tell, out of gratitude to 
that beneficent Father who everywhere has cared for 
His children. Michabo, giver of life and light, creator 
and preserver, is no apotheosis of a prudent chieftain, 

1 Narrative of John Tanner, p. 351. 

2 Schoolcraft, Algic Res., i. p. 216. 

3 Narrative of John Tanner, p. 354. 



202 THE SUPREME GODS OF THE BED RACE. 

still less the fabrication of an idle fancy or a designing 
priestcraft, but in origin, deeds, and name the not un- 
worthy personification of the purest conceptions they 
possessed concerning the Father of All. To Him at 
early dawn the Indian stretched forth his hands in 
prayer ; and to the sky or the sun as his home, he first 
pointed the pipe in his ceremonies, rites often misin- 
terpreted by travelers as indicative of sun worship. 

As later observers tell us, to this day the Algonkin 
prophet builds the medicine lodge to face the sunrise, 
and in the name of Michabo, who there has his home, 
summons the spirits of the four quarters of the world 
and Gizhigooke, the day maker, to come to his fire and 
disclose the hidden things of the distant and the future : 
so the earliest explorers relate that when they asked the 
native priests who it was they invoked, what demons or 
familiars, the invariable reply was, " the Kichigouai, 
the genii of light, those who make the day." 1 

Our authorities on Iroquois traditions, though nu- 
merous enough, are not so satisfactory. The best, per- 

1 Compare the Bel. de la Nouv. France, 1634, p. 14, 1637, p. 46, 
with Schoolcraft, Ind. Tribes, v. p. 419. Kichigouai is the same 
word as Gizhigooke, according to a different orthography. In the 
Micmac stories collected by Eev. Silas T. Rand and Mr. Leland, 
Michabo figures under the name Glooscap, the Deceiver, on account 
of his skill in foiling his enemies. This is a modern and imperfect 
form of the legend, as I have pointed out {American Antiquarian, 
May, 1885) allied to the Cree conception of Wisakedjak (Cuoq, 
Lexique Algonquine, p. 442, Lacombe, Diet. Oris, p. 653). The 
Indian author, John Nicolas, of Maine, has recently published 
the true, ancient traditions of Glooscap, whom he spells Klose- 
kur-beh and translates " the man from (made out of) nothing." 
( Life and Traditions of the Red Man, 1893. ) See also Edward J ack, 
in Transactions of the Canadian Institute, 1892, pp. 202, sqq. ; Silas T. 
Rand, Legends of the Micruacs, 1894. 



THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 



203 



haps, is Father Brebeuf, a Jesuit missionary, who 
resided among the Hurons in 1626. Their culture 
myth, which he has recorded, is strikingly similar to 
that of the Algonkins. Two brothers appear in it, 
Ioskeha and Tawiscara, names which find their mean- 
ing in the Oneida dialect as the White one and the 
Dark one. 1 They are twins, born of a virgin mother, 
who died in giving them life. Their grandmother was 
the moon, called by the Hurons Ataensic, a word which 
signifies literally she bathes herself, and which, in the 
opinion of Father Bruyas, a most competent authority, 
is derived from the word for water. 2 

The brothers quarreled, and finally came to blows ; 
the former using the horns of a stag, the latter the wild 
rose. He of the weaker weapon was very naturally 

1 The names ISskeha and TaSiseara I venture to identify with 
the Oneida owisske or owiska, white, and tetiucalas (tyokaras tewhgarlars, 
Mohawk), dark or darkness. The prefix i to owisske is the imper- 
sonal third person singular ; the suffix ha gives a future sense, so 
that i-oivisske-ha or iouskeha means ' ' it is going to become white." 
Brebeuf gives a similar example of gaon, old ; a-gaon-ha, il va 
devenir vieux (Bel. Nouv. France, 1636, p. 99). But " it is going to 
become white, ' ' meant to the Iroquois that the dawn was about to 
appear, just as wanbighen, it is white, did to the Abnakis (see note 
on page 198), and as the Eskimos say, Jcau ma wok, it is white, to 
express that it is daylight (Erdman, Eskimoisches Worterbuch). 

2 The orthography of Brebeuf is aataentsic. This may be ana- 
lyzed as follows : root aouen, water ; prefix at, il y a quelque chose ICL 
dedans ; ataouen, se baigner ; from which comes the form ataouensere. 
(See Bruyas, Bad. Verb. Iroquceor., pp. 30, 31.) Here again the 
mythological role of the moon as the goddess of water comes dis- 
tinctly to light. These etymologies have been attacked by Mr. J. 
B. N. Hewitt {Proceedings Amer. Assoc. Adv. of Science, 1895, pp. 
241, sqq.) and others proposed; but I prefer the opinions of 
Brebeuf andCuoq to those of Mr. Hewitt ; although to concede his 
derivations would not affect the interpretation of the myth. 



204 THE SUPREME GODS OF TEE BED RACE. 

discomfited and sorely wounded. Fleeing for life, the 
blood gushed from him at every step, and as it fell 
turned into flint-stones. The victor returned to his 
grandmother, and established his lodge in the far east, 
on the borders of the great ocean, whence the sun comes. 
In time he became the father of mankind, and special 
guardian of the Iroquois. 

The earth was at first arid and sterile, but he de- 
stroyed the gigantic frog which had swallowed all the 
waters, and guided the torrents into smooth streams 
and lakes. 1 The woods he stocked with game ; and 
having learned from the great tortoise, who supports 
the world, how to make fire, taught his children, the 
Indians, this indispensable art. He it was who watched 
and watered their crops ; and, indeed, without his aid, 
says the old missionary, quite out of patience with 
such puerilities, "they think they could not boil a 
pot." Sometimes they spoke of him as the sun, but 
this only figuratively. 2 

From other writers of early date we learn that the 
essential outlines of this myth were received by the 
Tuscaroras and Mohawks, and as the proper names of 
the two brothers are in the Oneida dialect, we cannot 
err in considering this the national legend of the 
Iroquois stock. There is strong likelihood that the 

1 This offers an instance of the uniformity which prevailed in 
symbolism in the New World. The Aztecs adored the goddess of 
water under the figure of a frog carved from a single emerald ; or 
of human form, but holding in her hand the leaf of a water lily 
ornamented with frogs. In the Maya codices it appears as a sym- 
bol of the water and the rains. Cod. Cortesianius, pp. 12, 17, etc. 
Images of it cut from stone or of clay are frequent in American 
art. They were kept by the later Indians as talismans. B. de 
Alva, Confessionario en Lengua Mexicana, fol. 9. 

2 Bel. de la Nouv. France, 1636, p. 101. 



SIMILAR MYTHS. 



205 



Taronhiawagon, he who comes from the Sky, of the 
Onondagas, who was their supreme God, who spoke to 
them in dreams, and in whose honor the chief festival 
of their calendar was celebrated about the winter sol- 
stice, was, in fact, Ioskeha under another name. 1 As 
to the legend of the Good and Bad Minds given by 
Cusic, to which I have referred in a previous chapter, 
and the later myth of Hiawatha, first made public by 
Mr. Clark in his History of Onondaga (1849), and 
which, in the graceful poem of Longfellow, is now 
familiar to the world, they are but pale reflections of 
the early native traditions, in which history and fancy 
are commingled. 2 

So strong is the resemblance Ioskeha bears to 
Michabo, that what has been said in explanation of 
the latter will be sufficient for both. Yet I do not 
imagine that the one was copied or borrowed from the 
other. We cannot be too cautious in adopting such a 
conclusion. The two nations were remote in every- 
thing but geographical position. 

I call to mind another similar myth. In it a mother 
is also said to have brought forth twins, or a pair of 
twins, and to have paid for them with her life. Again 
the one is described as the bright, the other as the dark 
twin ; again it is said that they struggled one with the 
other for the mastery. Scholars, likewise, have inter- 

1 Bel. ale la Nouv. France, 1671, p. 17. Cusic spells it Tarenya- 
wagon, and translates it Holder of the Heavens. But the name is 
evidently a compound of garonhia, sky, softened in the Onondaga 
dialect to taronhia (see Gallatin's Vocabs. under the word sky), 
and wagin, I come. 

The story of Hiawatha, in so far as it pertains to history, has 
been carefully summed up by Horatio Hale in his Iroquois Book 
of Bites, chap. ii. 



206 THE SUPREME GODS OF THE RED RACE. 

preted the mother to mean the Dawn, the twins either 
Light and Darkness, or the Four Winds. Yet this is 
not Algonkin theology ; nor is it at all related to that 
of the Iroquois. It is the story of Sarama in the Rig 
Veda, and was written in Sanscrit, under the shadow 
of the Himalayas, centuries before Homer. 

Such uniformity points not to a common source in 
history, but in psychology. Man, chiefly cognizant of 
his existence through his senses, thought with an awful 
horror of the night which deprived him of the use of 
one and foreshadowed the loss of all. Therefore light 
and life were to him synonymous ; therefore all relig- 
ions promise to lead 

' ' From night to light, 
From night to heavenly light ;" 

therefore He who rescues is ever the Light of the 
World ; therefore it is said " to the upright ariseth light 
in darkness ;" therefore everywhere the kindling East, 
the pale Dawn, is the embodiment of his hopes and the 
centre of his reminiscences. 

Who shall say that his instinct led him here astray ? 
For is not, in fact, all life dependent on light? Do not 
all those marvellous and subtle forces known to the 
older chemists as the imponderable elements, without 
which not even the inorganic crystal is possible, pro- 
ceed from the rays of light ? Let us beware of that 
shallow science so ready to shout Eureka, and reve- 
rently acknowledge a mysterious intuition here dis- 
played which joins with the latest conquests of the 
human mind to repeat and emphasize that message 
which the Evangelist heard of the Spirit and declared 
unto men, that " God is Light." 1 

1 r o 6so s <poj S £<tti, The First Epistle General of John, i. 5. In 



LIGHT AND DARKNESS. 



207 



Both these heroes, let it be observed, live in the utter- 
most east ; both are the mythical fathers of the race. 
To the east, therefore, should these nations have 
pointed as their original dwelling place. This they did 
in spite of history. Cusic, who takes up the story of 
the Iroquois a thousand years before the Christian era, 
locates them first in the most eastern region they ever 
possessed. While the Algonkins with one voice called 
those of their tribes living nearest the rising sun 
Abnalcis, our ancestors at the east, or at the dawn ; liter- 
ally our white ancestors. 1 

I designedly emphasize this literal rendering. It 
reminds one of the white twin of Iroquois legend, and 
illustrates how the color white came to be intimately 
associated with the morning light and its beneficent 
effects. Moreover color has a specific effect on the 
mind ; there is a music to the eye as well as to the ear; 
and white, which holds all hues in itself, disposes the 
soul to all pleasant and elevating emotions. 2 Not 

curious analogy to these myths is that of the Eskimos of Green- 
land. In the beginning, they relate, were two brothers, one of 
whom said: "There shall be night and there shall be day, and 
men shall die, one after another." But the second said, " There 
shall be no day, but only night all the time, and men shall live 
forever." They had a long struggle, but here once more he who 
loved darkness rather than light was worsted, and the day tri- 
umphed. (Nachrichten von Gronland aus einem Tagebuche vom Bischof 
Paul Egede, p. 157 : Kopenhagen, 1790. The date of the entry is 
1738.) 

1 I accept without hesitation the derivation of this word, pro- 
posed and defended by that accomplished Algonkin scholar, the 
Kev. Eugene Vetromile, from wanb, white or east, and naghi, an- 
cestors (The Abnakis and their History, p. 29, New York, 1866). 

2 White light, remarks Goethe, has in it something cheerful 
and ennobling ; it possesses "eine heitere, muntere, sanft reizende 
Eigenschaf t. " Farbenlehre, see's 766, 770. 



208 



THE SUPREME GODS OF THE BED RACE. 



fashion alone bids the bride wreathe her brow with 
orange flowers, nor was it a mere figure of speech that 
led the inspired poet to call his love " fairest among 
women," and to prophesy a Messiah " fairer than the 
children of men," fulfilled in that day when He ap- 
peared " in garments so white as no fuller on earth 
could white them." 

No nation is free from the power of this law. "White," 
observes Adair of the southern Indians, " is their fixed 
emblem of peace, friendship, happiness, prosperity, 
purity, and holiness." 1 Their priests dressed in white 
robes, as did those of Peru and Mexico ; the kings of 
the various species of animals were all supposed to be 
white f the cities of refuge established as asylums for 
alleged criminals by the Cherokees in the manner of 
the Israelites were called " white towns ;" and for sacri- 
fices animals of this color were ever most highly es- 
teemed. 

All these sentiments were linked to the dawn. Lan- 
guage itself is a proof of it. Many Algonkin words for 
east, morning, dawn, day, light, as we have already 
seen, are derived from a radical signifying white. Or 
we can take a tongue nowise related, the Quiche, and 
find its words for east, dawn, morning, light, bright, 
glorious, happy, noble, all derived from zak, white. 
We read in their legends of the earliest men that they 
were " white children," " white sons," leading " a white 
life beyond the dawn," and the creation itself is attrib- 
uted to the Dawn, the White One, the White Sacrificer 
of Blood. 3 

1 Hist, of the N. Am. Indians, p. 159. 

2 La Hontan, Voy. dans VAmer. Sept., ii. p. 42. 

3 ' ' Blanco pizote, ' ' Ximenes, p. 4, Voeabulario Quiche, s. v. zak. 
In the far north the Eskimo tongue presents the same analogy. 



THE WHITE GOD. 



209 



But why insist upon the point when in European 
tongues we find the daybreak called Vaube, alva, from 
albus, white? Enough for the purpose if the error of 
those is manifest, who, in such expressions, would seek 
support for any theory of ancient European immigra- 
tion ; enough if it displays the true meaning of those 
traditions of the advent of benevolent visitors of fair 
complexion in ante-Columbian times, which both Al- 
gonkins and Iroquois 1 had in common with many other 
tribes of the western continent. 

Their explanation will not be found in the annals of 
Japan, the triads of the Cymric bards, nor the sagas 
of Icelandic skalds, but in the propensity of the hu- 
man mind to attribute its own origin and culture to 
that white-shining orient where sun, moon, and stars, 
are daily born in renovated glory, to that fair mother, 
who, at the cost of her own life, gives light and joy to 
the world, to the brilliant womb of Aurora, the glow- 
ing bosom of the Dawn. 

Even the complicated mythology of Peru yields to 
the judicious application of these principles of interpre- 
tation. Its peculiar obscurity arises from the policy 
of the Incas to blend the religions of conquered prov- 
inces with their own. Thus about 1350 the Inca Pa- 
chacutec subdued the country about Lima where the 

Day, morning, bright, light, lightning, all are from the same root 
(kau), signifying white. So in Hidatsa, from had, to grow light, 
come ahati, white, amahati, to shine, etc. (W. Matthews, Hidatsa 
Grammar). 

1 Some fragments of them may be found in Campanius, Acc. of 
New Sweden, 1650, book iii. chap. 11, and in By rd, The Westover 
3fanuscripts, 1733, p. 82. They were in both instances alleged to 
have been white and bearded men, the latter probably a later trait 
in the legend. 

14 



210 



THE SUPREME GODS OF THE BED RACE. 



worship of Con and Pachacamac prevailed. 1 The local 
myth represented these as father and son, or brothers, 
children of the sun. They were without flesh or blood, 
impalpable, invisible, and incredibly swift of foot. 
Con first possessed the land, but Pachacamac attacked 
and drove him to the north. Irritated at his defeat he 
took with him the rain, and consequently to this day 
the sea-coast of Peru is largely an arid desert. 

Now when we are informed that the south wind, that, 
in other words, which blows to the north, is the actual 
cause of the aridity of the lowlands, 2 and consider the 
light and airy character of these antagonists, we can- 
not hesitate to accept this as a myth of the winds. 

The name of Con tici, the Thunder Vase, was indeed 
applied to Viracocha in later times, but they were never 
identical. Viracocha was the culture hero of the ancient 
Aymara-Quichua stock. He was more than that, for 
in their creed he was creator and possessor of all things. 
Lands and herds were assigned to other gods to sup- 
port their temples, and offerings were heaped on their 
altars, but to him none. For, asked the Incas : " Shall 
the Lord and Master of the whole world need these 
things from us?" To him, says Acosta, " they did at- 

1 Con or Cun I have already explained (see note, p. 187) to mean 
thunder, Con tici, the mythical thunder vase. The name Pacha- 
camac is analyzed with minuteness by Von Tschudi (Beitrage zur 
Kennt. des altenPeru, p. 121, Vienna, 1891). It may mean the cre- 
ator, producer or sustainer of the world, both in space and time ; 
or, he who animates time and space, or gives them their value and 
use. In actual formulas, such as have been preserved, its meaning 
is usually the former, i.e., 11 the world-sustainer. " In later myth 
he was personified as son of Con, brother of the sun or moon, etc. 
Middendorf prefers for Pachacama the simple meaning * Creator 
of the World," Oilanta, p. 21. 

2 Ulloa, Memoircs sur P Amerique, i. p. 105. 



PERUVIAN MYTHS. 



211 



tribute the chief power and commandment over all 
things ;" and elsewhere, " in all this realm the chief 
idoll they did worship was Viracocha, and after him the 
Sunne." 1 

Ere sun or moon was made, he rose from the bosom 
of Lake Titicaca, and presided over the erection of 
those wondrous cities whoso ruins still dot its islands 
and western shores, and whose history is totally lost in 
the night of time. He himself constructed these lumi- 
naries and placed them in the sky, and then peopled 
the earth with its present inhabitants. From the lake 
he journeyed westward, not without adventures, for he 
was attacked with murderous intent by the beings 
whom he had created. When, however, scorning such 
unequal combat, he had manifested his power by hurl- 
ing the lightning on the hill sides and consuming the 
forests, they recognized their maker, and humbled 
themselves before him. He was reconciled, and taught 
them arts and agriculture, institutions and religion, 
meriting the title they gave him of Pachayachachic, 
teacher of all things. At last he disappeared in the 
western ocean. 

Four personages, companions or sons, were closely 
connected with him. They rose together with him from 
the lake, or else were his first creations. These are the 

1 Acosta, Hist of the New World, bk. v. chap. 4, bk. vi. chap. 19, 
Eng. trans., 1704. The Quichua culture-hero Tonapa was appa- 
rently another form or incarnation of Viracocha. In reference to 
his mythical cyclus see Tres Belaciones Peruanas (Madrid, 1879) ; 
von Tschudi, Beitr'dge; Lafone-Quevedo, El Quito de Tonapa (1892); 
Brinton, American HerQ-Myths, chap. v. Von Tschudi recognizes 
in Viracocha the impersonation of Light, and places him in an- 
tithesis to Con, whom he believes to represent darkness {Beitr'dge, 
p. 211). 



212 



THE SUPREME GOBS OF THE RED RACE. 



four mythical civilizers of Peru, who another legend 
asserts emerged from the cave Pacarin tampu, the 
Lodgings of the Dawn. 1 To these Yiracocha gave the 
earth, to one the north, to another the south, to a third 
the east, to a fourth the west. Their names are very 
variously given, but as they have already been identi- 
fied with the four winds, we can omit their considera- 
tion here. 2 Tradition, as has rightly been observed by 
the Inca Garcilasso de la Vega, transferred a portion of 
the story of Viracocha to Manco Capac, first of the his- 
torical Incas. King Manco, however, was a real char- 
acter, the Rudolph of Hapsburg of their reigning family, 
and flourished about the eleventh century. 

There is a general resemblance between this story 
and that of Michabo. Both precede and create the 
sun, both journey to the west, overcoming opposition 
with the thunderbolt, both divide the world between 

1 The name is derived from tampu, corrupted by the Spaniards to 
tambo, an inn, and paccari, morning, or paccarin, it dawns, which 
also has the figurative signification, it is born. It may therefore 
mean either Lodgings of the Dawn, or as the Spaniards usually 
translated it, House of Birth, or Production, Casa de Producimiento. 

2 The names given by Balboa {Hist, du Perou, p. 4) and Monte- 
sinos {Ancien Perou, p. 5) are Manco, Cacha, Auca, Uchu. The 
meaning of Manco is unknown. The others signify, in their order, 
messenger, enemy or traitor, and the little one. The myth of 
Viracocha is given in its most antique form by Juan de Betanzos, 
in the Historia de los Ingas, compiled in the first years of the con- 
quest from the original songs and legends. It is quoted in Garcia, 
Origen de los Indios, lib. v. cap. 7. Balboa, Montesinos, Acosta., 
and others have also furnished me some incidents. The most 
scholarly study of the Viracocha legends is that by the late von 
Tschudi, published in his Beitrdge zur Kenntniss des Alien Peru, Vi- 
enna, 1891. I also refer to that in my American Hero Myths, pp. 
168-202, and the discussion of the myth by Dr. Middendorf in his 
introduction to the drama of Ollanta, Leipzig, 1890. 



Q UETZAL CO A TL. 



213 



the four winds, both were the fathers, gods, and teach- 
ers of their nations. Nor does it cease here. Michabo, 
I have shown, is the white spirit of the Dawn. 
Viracocha, all authorities translate " the fat or foam of 
the sea." The idea conveyed is of whiteness, foam 
being called fat from its color. 1 So true is this that to- 
day in Peru white men are called viracochas, and the 
early explorers constantly received the same epithet. 
The name is a metaphor. The dawn rises above the 
horizon as the snowy foam on the surface of a lake. 

As the Algonkins spoke of the Abnakis, their white 
ancestors, as in Mexican legends the early Toltecs were 
of fair complexion, so the Aymaras sometimes called 
the first four brothers, viracochas, white men. 2 It is the 
ancient story how 

"Light 

Sprung from the deep, and from her native east 
To journey through the airy gloom began." 

The central figure of Nahuatl mythology is Quetzal- 
coatl. Not an author on ancient Mexico but has some- 
thing to say about the glorious days when he ruled 
over the land. No one denies him to have been a god, 
the god of the air, highest deity of the Tezcucans, in 

1 It is compounded of uira, fat, foam (which perhaps is akin to 
yurac, white), and cocha, a pond or lake. This simple and ancient 
derivation has not pleased modern students. Von Tschudi derives 
uira from uayra, wind or air, and makes Viracocha originally a god 
of the winds (Beitrdge, p. 196). Middendorf thinks uira refers to 
lava and translates therefore u Lord of the Lava Stream," or the 
fluid interior of the earth ! ( Ollanta, p. 24. ) Lafone Quevedo gives 
a still more fanciful rendering. (El Quito de Tonapa, 1892. ) The 
birth of the hero god from the fat or scum of the sea reappears in 
theZufii Creation Myths (Cushing, u. s., p. 379). 

2 Gomara, Hist, de las Indias, cap. 119, in Muller. 



214 



THE SUPREME GODS OF THE BED RACE. 



whose honor was erected the pyramid of Cholula, 
grandest monument of their race. But many insist 
that he was at first a man, some deified king. There 
were in truth many Quetzalcoatls, for his high priest 
always bore his name, but he himself is a pure creation 
of the fancy, and all his alleged history is nothing but 
a myth. 

His emblematic name, the Bird-Serpent, and his 
connection with the wind-cross, I have already ex- 
plained. Others of his titles were: Ehecatl, the air; 
Yolcuat, the rattlesnake ; Tohil, the rumbler ; Huemac, 
the strong hand ; Nanihehecatle, lord of the four winds; 
Tlaviz-calpan-tecutli, lord of the light of the dawn. 
The same dualism reappears in him that has been 
noted in his analogues elsewhere. He is both lord of 
the eastern light and the winds. 

As the former, he was born of a virgin in the land 
of Tula or Tlapallan, in the distant Orient, and was 
high priest of that happy realm. The morning star 
was his symbol, and the temple of Cholula was dedi- 
cated to him expressly as the author of light. 1 As by 
days we measure time, he was the alleged inventor of 
the calendar. Like all the dawn heroes, he too was 
represented as of white complexion, clothed in long 
white robes, and, as many of the Aztec gods, with a full 
and flowing beard. 2 

1 Brasseur, Hist, du Mexique, i. p. 302. 

2 There is no reason to lay any stress upon this feature. Beard 
was nothing uncommon among the Aztecs and many other nations 
of the New World. It was held to add dignity to the appearance, 
and therefore Sahagun, in his description of the Mexican idols, 
repeatedly alludes to their beards, and Miiller quotes various 
authorities to show that the priests wore them long and full (Amer. 
Urreligionen, p. 429 ). Not only was Quetzalcoatl himself reported 



TEE CLOUD-SERPENT. 



215 



When his earthly work was done he too returned to 
the east, assigning as a reason that the sun, the ruler 
of Tlapallan, demanded his presence. But the real 
motive was that he had been overcome by Tezcatlipoca, 
otherwise called Yoalliehecatl, the wind or spirit of 
night, who had descended from heaven by a spider's 
web and presented his rival with a draught pretended 
to confer immortality, but, in fact, producing uncon- 
trollable longing for home. For the wind and the 
light both depart when the gloaming draws near, or 
when the clouds spread their dark and shadowy webs 
along the mountains, and pour the vivifying rain upon 
the fields. 

In his other character, he was begot of the breath 
of Tonacateotl, god of our flesh or subsistence, 1 or 
(according to Gomara) was the son of Iztac Mixcoatl, 
the white cloud serpent, the spirit of the tornado. Mes- 
senger of Tlaloc, god of rains, he was figuratively said 
to sweep the road for him, since in that country vio- 
lent winds are the precursors of the wet seasons. 
Wherever he went all manner of singing birds bore 
him company, emblems of the whistling breezes. 

When he finally disappeared in the far east, he sent 
back four trusty youths who had ever shared his for- 
tunes, " incomparably swift and light of foot," with 
directions to divide the earth between them and rule 

to have been of fair complexion — white indeed — but the historian 
Ixtlilxochitl says the old legends asserted that all the Toltecs, 
natives of Tollan, or Tula, as their name signifies, were so like- 
wise. Still more, Aztlan, the traditional home of the Nahuas, or 
Aztecs proper, means literally the white land, according to one 
of our best authorities (Buschmann, Ueber die Aztekischen Ortsnamen, 
p. 612). 

1 Kingsborough, Antiquities of Mexico, v. p. 1C9. 



216 



THE SUPREME GODS OF THE RED RACE. 



it till he should return and resume his power. When 
he would promulgate his decrees, his herald pro- 
claimed them from Tzatzitepec, the hill of shouting, 
with such a mighty voice that it could be heard a 
hundred leagues around. The arrows which he shot 
transfixed- great trees, the stones he threw levelled 
forests, and when he laid his hands on the rocks the 
mark was indelible. 

Yet as thus emblematic of the thunder-storm, he 
possessed in full measure its better attributes. By 
shaking his sandals he gave fire to men, and peace, 
plenty, and riches blessed his subjects. Tradition 
says he built many temples to Mictlanteuctli, the Aztec 
Pluto, and at the creation of the sun that he slew all 
the other gods, for the advancing dawn disperses the 
spectral shapes of night, and yet all its vivifying 
power does but result in increasing the number 
doomed to fall before the remorseless stroke of death. 1 

His symbols were the bird, the serpent, the cross, 
and the flint, representing the clouds, the lightning, 
the four winds, and the thunderbolt. Perhaps, as 
Huemac, the Strong Hand, he was god of the earth- 
quakes. The Zapotecs worshipped such a deity under 
the image of this member carved from a precious stone, 2 
calling to mind the " Kab-ul," the Working Hand, 
adored by the Mayas, 3 and said to be one of the images 

1 The myth of Quetzalcoatl I have taken chiefly from Sahagun, 
Hist, de la Nueva Espana, lib. i. cap. 5 ; lib. iii. caps 3, 13, 14 ; 
lib. x. cap. 29 ; Torqueniada, Monarquia Indiana, lib. vi. cap. 24; 
and the Anales de Quauhtitlan. It must be remembered that 
the Quiche legends identify him positively with the Tohil of 
Central America (Le Livre Sacre, p. 247). 

2 Padilla, Davila, Hist, de la Prov. de Santiago de Mexico, lib. ii. 
cap. 89. 

3 Cogolludo, Hist, de Tueathan, lib. iv. cap. 8. 



PARALLEL MYTHS. 



217 



of Itzamna, their hero god. The human hand, " that 
divine tool," as it has been called, might well be re- 
garded by the reflective mind as the teacher of the 
arts and the amulet whose magic power has won for 
man what vantage he has gained in his long combat 
with nature and his fellows. 

I might next discuss the culture myth of the Muys- 
cas, whose hero Bochica or Nemqueteba bore the other 
name Sua, the White One, the Day, the East, an ap- 
pellation they likewise gave the Europeans on their 
arrival. He had taught them in remotest times how 
to manufacture their clothing, build their houses, cul- 
tivate the soil, and reckon time. When he disappeared, 
he divided the land between four chiefs, and laid down 
many minute rules of government which ever after 
were religiously observed. 1 

Or I might choose that of the Caribs, whose pa- 
tron Tamu called Grandfather, and Old man of the 
Sky, was a man of light complexion, who in the old 
times came from the east, instructed them in agricul- 
ture and arts, and disappeared in the same direction, 
promising them assistance in the future, and that at 
death he would receive their souls on the summit of 
the sacred tree, and transport them safely to his home 
in the sky. 2 

1 He is also called Idacanzas and Nemterequetaba. Some have 
maintained a distinction between Bochica and Sua, which, how- 
ever, has not been shown. The best authorities on the mythology 
of the Muyscas are Piedrahita, Hist, de la Cong, del Nuevo Reyno de 
Granada, 1668 (who is copied by Humboldt, Vues des Cordilleres, 
pp. 246 sqq.), and Simon, iSoticias de Tierra Firme, Parte ii. The 
myths are well summed up by E. Restrepo, Aborigines de Colombia, 
cap. ii. iii. 

2 D'Orbigny, L' Homme Americain, ii. p. 319, and Rochefort, 
Hist des Isles Antilles, p. 482. The name has various orthographies, 



218 THE SUPREME GODS OF THE BED RACE. 



Or from the more fragmentary mythology of ruder 
nations, proof might be brought of the well nigh uni- 
versal reception of these fundamental views. As, for 
instance, when the Mandans of the Upper Missouri 
speak of their first ancestor as a son of the West, who 
preserved them at the flood, and whose garb was always 
of four milk-white wolf skins :* and when the Pimos, a 
people of the valley of the Rio Gila, relate that their 
birthplace was where the sun rises, that there for genera- 
tions they led a joyous life, until their beneficent first 
parent disappeared in the heavens. From that time, 
say they, God lost sight of them, and they wandered 
west, and further west till they reached their present 
seats. 2 

Or I might instance the Tupis of Brazil, who were 
named after the first of men, Tupa, he who alone sur- 
vived the flood, who was one of four brothers, who is 
described as an old man of fair complexion, un vieillard 
blanc* and who is now their highest divinity, ruler of 

Tamu, Tamoi, Tamou. Itamoulou, and is probably identical with 
the Zume of the Guaranis of Paraguay, and who, they said, came 
from the sun-rising, and was their instructor in arts. 1ST. del Techo, 
Hist. Prov. Paraquariae, lib vi. cap. iv. Dr. Ehrenreich considers 
him identical with the Kamu of the Arawacks, and the Kaboi of 
the Carayas. In the legend of the latter, he dwelt with their an- 
cestors in the underworld until a bird, the Dicholophos cristatus, by 
its call, led them to light and life in the upper world. Die Karay- 
astamme, p. 39 (1891) . 

1 Catlin, Letters and Notes, Letter 22. 

2 Journal of Capt. Johnson, in Emory, Reconnoissance of New 
Mexico, p. 601. 

3 <£ I1 a fait tout," says Father Ives d'Evreux, Hist, de Marignan, 
p. 280. Tupa now means god and thunder. Further references 
by M.de Charency, Revue Americaine, ii. p. 317. Another similar 
Tupi myth is that of Timondonar and Aricoute. They were 
brothers, the one of fair complexion, the other dark. They were 



THE DAWN. 



219 



the lightning and the storm, whose voice is the thun- 
der, and who is the guardian of their nation. But is 
it not evident that these and all such legends are but 
variations of those already analyzed ? 

In thus removing one by one the wrappings of sym- 
bolism, and displaying at the centre and summit of 
these various creeds, He who is throned in the sky, 
who comes with the dawn, who manifests himself 
in the light and the storm, and whose ministers are 
the four winds, I set up no new god. The ancient 
Israelites prayed to him who was seated above the 
firmament, who commanded the morning and caused 
the day-spring to know its place, who answered out 
of the whirlwind, and whose envoys were the four 
winds, the four cherubim described with such wealth 
of imagery in the introduction to the book of Ezekiel. 
The Mahometan adores " the clement and merciful 
Lord of the Daybreak," whose star is in the east, who 
rides on the storm, and whose breath is the wind. 

The primitive man in the New World also associated 
these physical phenomena as products of an invisible 
power, conceived under human form, called by name, 
worshipped as one, and of whom all related the same 
myth differing but in unimportant passages. This was 
the primeval religion. It was not monotheism, for 
there were many other gods ; it was not pantheism, for 
there was no blending of the cause with the effects ; 
still less was it fetichism, an adoration of sensuous 
objects, for these were recognized as effects. It teaches 
us that the idea of God neither arose from the phenom- 
enal world nor was sunk in it, as is the shallow 
theory of the day, but is as Kant long ago defined it, 

constantly struggling and Aricoute, which means the cloudy or 
stormy day, was worsted (Fd. Denis, Une Fete Bresilienne, p. 88). 



220 THE SUPREME GODS OF THE RED RACE. 

a conviction of a highest and first principle which 
binds all phenomena into one. 

One point of these legends deserves closer attention 
for the influence it exerted on the historical fortunes 
of the race. The dawn heroes were conceived as of 
fair complexion, mighty in war, and though absent for 
a season, destined to return and claim their ancient 
power. Here was one of those unconscious prophe- 
cies, pointing to the advent of a white race from the 
east, that wrote the doom of the red man in letters of 
fire. 

Historians have marvelled at the instantaneous col- 
lapse of the empires of Mexico, Peru, the Mayas, and 
the Natchez, before a handful of Spanish filibusters. 
The fact was, wherever the whites appeared they were 
connected with these ancient predictions of the spirit 
of the dawn returning to claim his own. Obscure and 
ominous prophecies, " texts of bodeful song," rose in 
the memory of the natives, and paralyzed their arms. 

" For a very long time," said Montezuma, at his first 
interview with Cortes, " has it been handed down that 
we are not the original possessors of this land, but came 
hither from a distant region under the guidance of a 
ruler who afterwards left us and returned. We have 
ever believed that some day his descendants would 
come and resume dominion over us. Inasmuch as you 
are from that direction, which is toward the rising of 
the sun, and serve so great a king as you describe, we 
believe that he is also our natural lord, and are ready 
to submit ourselves to him." 1 

The gloomy words of Nezahualcoyotl, a former 
prince of Tezcuco, foretelling the arrival of white and 



1 Cortes, Carta Primera, pp. 113, 114. 



PEES ENTIMENTS. 



221 



bearded men from the east, who would wrest the power 
from the hands of the rightful rulers and destroy in a 
day the edifice of centuries, were ringing in his ears. 
But they were not so gloomy to the minds of his down- 
trodden subjects, for that day was to liberate them from 
the. thralls of servitude. Therefore when they first 
beheld the fair complexioned Spaniards, they rushed 
into the water to embrace the prows of their vessels, 
and despatched messengers throughout the land to 
proclaim the return of Quetzalcoatl. 1 

The noble Mexican was not alone in his presenti- 
ments. When Hernando de Soto on landing in Peru 
first met the Inca Huascar, the latter related an ancient 
prophecy which his father Huayna Capac had repeated 
on his dying bed, to the effect that in the reign of the 
thirteenth Inca, white men (yiracochas) of surpassing 
strength and valor would come from their father the 
Sun and subject to their rule the nations of the world. 
" I command you," said the dying monarch, u to yield 
them homage and obedience, for they will be of a 
nature superior to ours." 2 

The natives of Haiti told Columbus of similar pre- 
dictions long anterior to his arrival. 3 The Maryland 
Indians said the whites were an ancient generation 
who had come to life again, and had returned to seize 
their former land; 4 and the Lenape of the Delaware 
told the Moravian missionaries that it was an ancient 
belief that divine men should come to them from the 
east, and for these they took the first Europeans. 5 

1 Sahagun, Hist, de la Nueva Espafia, lib. xii. caps. 2, 3. 

2 La Vega, Hist, des Incas., lib. ix. cap. 15. 

3 Peter Martyr, De JReb. Oceanicis, Dec. iii. lib. vii. 
* Blomes, State of his Maj. Terr., p» 199. 

5 Brinton, The Lenape and their Legends, p. 132 and authorities 
there quoted. 



222 



THE SUPREME GODS OF TEE BED RACE. 



Father Lizana has preserved in the original Maya 
tongue several such foreboding chants. Doubtless he 
has adapted them somewhat to proselytizing purposes, 
but they seem very likely to be close copies of authentic 
aboriginal songs, referring to the return of Itzamna or 
Kukulcan, lord of the dawn and the four winds, wor- 
shipped at Cozumel and Palenque under the sign of 
the cross. An extract will show their character : — 

"At the close of the thirteenth Age of the world, 
While the cities of Itza and Tancah still nourish, 
The sign of the Lord of the Sky will appear, 
The light of the dawn will illumine the land, 
And the cross will be seen by the nations of men. 
A father to you, will He be, Itzalanos, 
A brother to you, ye natives of Tancah ; 
Eeceive well the bearded guests who are coming, 
Bringing the sign of the Lord from the daybreak, 
Of the Lord of the Sky, so clement yet powerful." 1 

The older writers, Gomara, Cogolludo, Villagutierre, 
have taken pains to collect other instances of this pre- 
sentiment of the arrival and domination of a white 
race. 2 Later historians, fashionably incredulous of 
what they cannot explain, have passed them over in 
silence. That they existed there can be no doubt, and 

1 Lizana, Hist, de Nuestra Senora de Itzamal, lib. ii. cap. i. in 
Brasseur, Hist, du Mexique, ii. p. 605. The prophecies are of the 
priest who bore the title — not name — chilan balam, and whose 
offices were those of divination and astrology. The verse claims to 
date from about 1450, and was very well known throughout Yuca- 
tan, so it is said. The "Books of Chilan Balam" copied in fac- 
simile by the late Dr. C. H. Berendt are in my possession. They 
contain several ancient prophecies of a similar character. I have 
described them in Essays of an Americanist, pp. 255-273. 

2 The benevolent hero-god of the Tarascos, by name Sorites, was 
also said to have predicted the arrival of the whites (F. X. Alegre, 
Hist, de la Corny. Jesus en la NuevaEspana, Tom. i. p. 91). 



THE EXPECTED SAVIOR. 



223 



that they arose in the way I have stated, is almost 
proved by the fact that in Mexico, Bogota, and Peru, 
the whites were at once called from the proper names 
of the heroes of the Dawn, Suas, Viracochas, and Quetzal- 
coatls. 

When the church of Rome had crushed remorselessly 
the religions of Mexico and Peru, all hope of the return 
of Quetzalcoatl and Viracocha perished with the insti- 
tutions of which they were the mythical founders. But 
it was only to arise under new incarnations and later 
names. As well forbid the heart of youth to bud forth 
in tender' love, as that of oppressed nationalities to 
cherish the faith that some ideal hero, some royal man, 
will yet arise, and break in fragments their fetters, and 
lead them to glory and honor. 

When the name of Quetzalcoatl was no longer heard 
from the teocalli of Cholula, that of Montezuma took 
its place. From ocean to ocean, and from the river 
Gila to the Nicaraguan lake, nearly every aboriginal 
nation still cherishes the memory of Montezuma, not 
as the last unfortunate ruler of a vanished state, but as 
the prince of their golden era, their Saturnian age, 
lord of the winds and waters, and founder of their in- 
stitutions. When, in the depth of the tropical forests, 
the antiquary disinters some statue of earnest mien, 
the natives whisper one to the other, " Montezuma ! 
Montezuma!" 1 

In the legends of New Mexico he is the founder of 
the pueblos, and intrusted to their guardianship the 
sacred fire. Departing, he planted a tree, and bade 
them watch it well, for when that tree should fall and 
the fire die out, then he would return from the far East, 
and lead his loyal people to victory and power. When 

1 Squier, Travels in Nicaragua, ii. p. 35. 



224 THE SUPREME GODS OF THE RED RACE. 

the last generation saw their land glide, mile by 
mile, into the rapacious hands of the Yankees — when 
new and strange diseases desolated their homes — 
finally, when in 1846 the sacred tree was prostrated, 
and the guardian of the holy fire was found dead on 
its cold ashes, then they thought the hour of deliver- 
ance had come, and every morning at earliest dawn a 
watcher mounted to the house-tops, and gazed long 
and anxiously in the lightening east, hoping to descry 
the noble form of Montezuma advancing through the 
morning beams at the head of a conquering army. 1 

Groaning under the iron rule of the Spaniards, the 
Peruvians would not believe that the last of the Incas 
had perished an outcast and a wanderer in the forests 
of the Cordilleras. For centuries they clung to the 
persuasion that he had but retired to another mighty 
kingdom beyond the mountains, and in due time 
would return and sweep the haughty Castilian back 
into the ocean. 

In 1781, a mestizo, Jose Gabriel Condorcanqui, of 
the province of Tinta, took advantage of this strong 
delusion, and binding around his forehead the scarlet 
fillet of the Incas, proclaimed himself the long lost 
Inca Tupac Amaru, and a true child of the sun. 
Thousands of Indians flocked to his standard, and at 
their head he took the field, vowing the extermination 
of every soul of the hated race. Seized at last by the 
Spaniards, and condemned to a public execution, so 

1 Whipple, Report on the Indian Tribes, p. 36. Emory, Becon. 
of New Mexico, p. 64. The latter adds that among the Pueblo 
Indians, the Apaches, and Navajos, the name of Montezuma is 
"as familiar as Washington to us." This is the more curious, as 
neither the Pueblo Indians nor either of the other tribes is in 
any way related to the Aztec race by language, as has been shown 
by Dr. Buschmann, Die Voelker und Sprachen Neu Mexicos, p. 262. 



THE MESSIAH CRAZE. 



225 



profound was the reverence with which he had inspired 
his followers, so full their faith in his claims, that, un- 
deterred by the threats of the soldiery, they prostrated 
themselves on their faces before this last of the children 
of the sun, as he passed on to a felon's death. 1 

But we need not go so wide either in time or space 
to see how deeply this hope is rooted in the native 
mind. It is but a few years since the Indians on our 
reservations, in wild despair at the misery and deaths 
of those dearest to them, broke out in mad appeals, in 
furious ceremonies, to induce that longed for Saviour 
and friend to appear. The heartless whites called it a 
"ghost dance" and a "Messiah craze," and shot the 
participants in their tracks, hastening the implacable 
destiny against which the poor wretches had prayed 
in vain. 3 

These fancied reminiscences, these unfounded hopes, 
so vague, so child-like, let no one dismiss them as the 
babblings of ignorance. Contemplated in their broad- 
est meaning as characteristics of the race of man, they 
have an interest higher than any history, beyond that 
of any poetry. They point to the recognized dis- 
crepancy between what man is, and what he feels he 
should be, must be ; they are the indignant protests of 
the race against acquiescence in the world's evil as the 
world's law; they are the incoherent utterances of those 
yearnings for nobler conditions of existence, which no 
savagery, no ignorance, nothing but a false and lying 
enlightenment can wholly extinguish. 

1 Humboldt, Essay on New Spain, bk. ii. chap. vi. , Eng. Trans ; 
Ansichten der Natur, ii. pp. 357, 386. 

3 See the touching account of Warren K. Moorehead in the 
American Antiquarian, May, 1891 ; also Alice C. Fletcher in Jour. 
Am. Folk-lore, March, 1891. 

15 



226 



MYTHS OF CREATION, DELUGE AND LAST DAY 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE MYTHS OF THE CREATION, THE DELUGE, THE 
EPOCHS OF NATURE 5 AND THE LAST DAY. 

Cosmogonies usually portray the action of the Spirit on the 
Waters. — Those of the Muscogees, Athapascas, Quiches, Zunis, 
Mixtecs, Iroquois, Algonkins, and others. — The Flood-Myth an 
unconscious attempt to reconcile a creation in time with the 
eternity of matter. — Proof of this from American mythology. — 
Characteristics of American Flood-Myths. — The person saved 
usually the first man. — The number seven. —Their Ararats. — 
The role of birds. — The confusion of tongues. — The Aztec, 
Quiche", Algonkin, Tupi, and earliest Sanscrit flood-myths. — The 
belief in Epochs of Nature a further result of this attempt at 
reconciliation. — Its forms among Peruvians, Mayas, and Aztecs. 
— The expectation of the End of the World a corollary of this 
belief. — Views of various nations. 

piOULD the reason rest content with the belief that 
■ the universe always was as it now is, it would save 
much beating of brains. Such is the comfortable con- 
dition of the Eskimos, the Rootdiggers of California, 
the most brutish specimens of humanity everywhere. 
Vain to inquire their story of creation, for, like the 
knife-grinder of anti- Jacobin renown, they have no 
story to tell. It never occurred to them that the earth 
had a beginning, or underwent any greater changes 
than those of the seasons. 1 But no sooner does the 

1 So far as this applies to the Eskimos, it might be questioned 
on the authority of Paul Egede, whose valuable Nachrichten von 
Gronland contains several flood-myths, etc. But these Eskimos, 



WATER THE FIRST. 



227 



mind begin to reflect, the intellect to employ itself on 
higher themes than the needs of the body, than the 
law of causality exerts its power, and the man, out of 
such material as he has at hand, manufactures for him- 
self a Theory of Things. 

What these materials were has been shown in the 
last few chapters. A simple primitive substance, a 
divinity to mould it — these are the requirements of 
every cosmogony. Concerning the first no nation ever 
hesitated. All agree that before time began water held 
all else in solution, covered and concealed everything. 
The reasons for this assumed priority of water have 
been already touched upon. Did a tribe dwell near 
some great sea others can be imagined. The land is 
limited, peopled, stable ; the ocean fluctuating, waste, 
boundless. It insatiably swallows all rains and rivers, 
quenches sun and moon in its dark chambers, and 
raves against its bounds as a beast of prey. 

Awe and fear are the sentiments it inspires ; in 
Aryan tongues its synonyms are the desert and the 
night} It produces an impression of immensity, in- 
finity, formlessness, and barren ehangeableness, well 
suited to a notion of chaos. It is sterile, receiving all 
things, producing nothing. Hence the necessity of a 

like those of the South, had had for generations intercourse with 
European missionaries and sailors, and as the other tribes of their 
stock were singularly devoid of corresponding traditions, it is 
likely that in Greenland they were of foreign origin. The Eskimo 
highest divinity, Tornarsuk, was not presented in the ancient 
'stories as the Creator of things. (Morillot, Mythologie des Esqui- 
maux, ActesSoc. Philol, iv. p. 232.) 

1 Pictet, Origines Indo-Europeennes in Michelet, La Mer. The 
latter has many eloquent and striking remarks on the impressions 
left by the great ocean. 



228 MYTHS OF CREATION, DELUGE AND LAST DAY. 

creative power to act upon it, as it were to impregnate 
its barren germs. Some cosmogonies find this in one, 
some in another personification of divinity. Commonest 
of all is that of the wind, or its emblem the bird, types 
of the breath of life. 

Thus the venerable record in Genesis, translated in 
the authorized version 4 ' and the Spirit of God moved 
on the face of the waters," may with equal correctness 
be rendered " and a mighty wind brooded on the sur- 
face of the waters," presenting the picture of a primeval 
ocean fecundated by the wind as a bird. 1 The eagle 
that in the Finnish epic of Kalewala floated over the 
waves and hatched the land, the egg that in Chinese 
legend swam hither and thither until it grew to a con- 
tinent, the giant Ymir, the rustler (as wind in trees), 
from whose flesh, says the Edda, our globe was made 
and set to float like a speck in the vast sea between 
Muspel and Niflheim, all are the same tale repeated by 
different nations in different ages. But why take illus- 
trations from the old world when they are so plenty in 
the new ? 

Before the creation, said the Muscokis, a great body 
of water was alone visible. Two pigeons flew to and 
fro over its waves, and at last spied a blade of grass 
rising above the surface. Dry land gradually followed, 
and the islands and continents took their present 
shapes. 2 

Whether this is an authentic aboriginal myth, is not 
beyond question. No such doubt attaches to that of 
the Athapascas. With singular unanimity, most of 

1 u Spiritus Dei incubuit superficei aquarum ' ' is the translation 
of one writer. The word for spirit in Hebrew, as in Latin, origi- 
nally meant wind, as I have before remarked. 

2 Schoolcraft, Ind. Tribes, i. p. 266. 



CREATION MYTHS. 



229 



the northwest branches of this stock trace their descent 
from a raven, " a mighty bird, whose eyes were fire, 
whose glances were lightning, and the clapping of 
whose wings was thunder. On his descent to the ocean, 
the earth instantly rose and remained on the surface 
of the water. This omnipotent bird then called forth 
all the variety of animals." 1 

Very similar, but with more of poetic finish, is the 
legend of the Quich6s ; — 

" This is the first word and the first speech. There 
were neither men nor brutes ; neither birds, fish, nor 
crabs, stick nor stone, valley nor mountain, stubble 
nor forest, nothing but the sky. The face of the land 
was hidden. There was naught but the salient sea and 
the sky. There was nothing joined, nor any sound, 
nor thing that stirred ; neither any to do evil, nor to 
rumble in the heavens, nor a walker on foot ; only the 
silent waters, only the pacified ocean, only it in its 
calm. Nothing was but stillness, and rest, and dark- 
ness, and the night; nothing but the Maker and 
Moulder, the Hurler, the Bird-Serpent. In the waters, 
in a limpid twilight, covered with green feathers, slept 
the mothers and the fathers." 2 

Over this passed Hurakan, the mighty wind, and 
called out Earth I and straightway the solid land was 
there. 

Turning to the pueblo-dwelling Zufiis, we hear as 
follows : 

" With the substance of himself did the all-father 
Awonawilona impregnate the great water, the world- 

1 Mackenzie, Hist, of the Fur Trade, p. 83 ; Kichardson, Arctic 
Expedition, p. 239. 

2 Ximenes, Or. de los Ind. de Guat., pp. 5-7. I translate freely, 
following Ximenes rather than Brasseur. 



230 MYTHS OF CREATION, DELUGE AND LAST DAY. 



holding sea, so that scums rose upon its surface, wax- 
ing wide and apart, until they became the all-contain- 
ing earth and the all-covering sky. From the lying 
together of these twain upon the great world waters, 
all beings of earth, men and creatures came to exist, 
and firstly in the fourfold womb of the world. In the 
nethermost of the cave-wombs of the world, the seed 
of men and creatures took form and life. The earth 
lay like a vast island, wet and shifting, amid the great 
waters, and the men groped about down in the murk 
underworld. Then arose the master magician, Janau- 
luha, and bearing a staff plumed and covered with 
feathers, he guided them upward to the world of light. 
There, by the power of his wand, caused he to be and 
become birds of shining plumage, the raven and the 
macaw, who were indeed the spirits of the winter and 
the summer, and the totems of the two first clans of 
men." 1 

The picture writings of the Mixtecs preserved a 
similar cosmogony : " In the year and in the day of 
clouds, before ever were either years or days, the world 
lay in darkness ; all things were orderless, and a water 
covered the slime and the ooze that the earth then 
was." By the efforts of two winds, called, from astro- 
logical associations, that of Nine Serpents and that of 
Nine Caverns, personified one as a bird and one as a 
winged serpent, the waters subsided and the land 
dried. 2 

In the birds that here play such conspicuous parts, 
we cannot fail to recognize the winds and the clouds ; 
but more especially the dark thunder cloud, soaring in 

1 Freely transcribed from Mr. Cushing's Zuni Creation Myths 
(1896). 

2 Garcia, Or. de los Indios, lib. v. cap. 4. 



CREATION MYTHS. 



231 



space at the beginning of things, most forcible emblem 
of the aerial powers. They are the symbols of that 
divinity which acted on the passive and sterile waters, 
the fitting result being the production of a universe. 
Other symbols of the divine could also be employed, 
and the meaning remain the same. Or were the fancy 
too helpless to suggest any, they could be dispensed 
with, and purely natural agencies take their place. 

The creation myth of the Guaymis of Costa Rica 
related that the mysterious being Noncomala formed 
the world and the waters, but they were in darkness 
and clouds. Wading into the river he met and fecun- 
dated the water-sprite Rutbe, who bore him twins, 
brothers, who lived and throve with their mother for 
twelve years. Then they left her, one becoming the 
sun the other the moon, the twin lights of the world. 1 

The unimaginative Iroquois narrated that when their 
primitive female ancestor was kicked from the sky by 
her irate spouse, there was as yet no land to receive 
her, but that it " suddenly bubbled up under her feet, 
and waxed bigger, so that ere long a whole country was 
perceptible." 2 Or that certain amphibious animals, 
the beaver, the otter, and the muskrat, seeing her 
descent, hastened to dive and bring up sufficient mud 
to construct an island for her residence. 3 The muskrat 
is also the simple machinery in the cosmogony of the 
Takahlis of the northwest coast, the Osages and some 
Algonkin tribes. 

These latter were, indeed, keen enough to perceive 
that there was really no creation in such an account. 
Dry land was wanting, but earth was there, though 

1 Juan Melendez, Tesoros Verdaderos de las Yndias, p. 4. 

2 Doc. Hist, of New York, iv. p. 130 (circ. 1650). 

3 Mel. de la Nouv. France, An. 1636, p. 101. 



232 MYTHS OF CREATION, DELUGE AND LAST DAY. 



hidden by boundless waters. Consequently, they 
spoke distinctly of the action of the muskrat in bring- 
ing it to the surface as a formation only. Michabo 
directed him, and from the mud formed islands and 
main land. But when the subject of creation was 
pressed, they replied they knew nothing of that, or 
roundly answered the questioner that he was talking 
nonsense. 1 Their myth, almost identical with that of 
their neighbors, was recognized by them to be not of a 
construction, but a reconstruction only ; a very judi- 
cious distinction, but one which has a most important 
corollary. 2 

A reconstruction supposes a previous existence. This 
they felt, and had something to say about an earth an- 
terior to this of ours, but one without light or hu- 
man inhabitants. A lake burst its bounds and sub- 
merged it wholly. This is obviously nothing but a 
mere and meagre fiction, invented to explain the ori- 
gin of the primeval ocean. But mark it well, for this 
is the germ of those marvellous myths of the Epochs 
of Nature, the catastrophes of the universe, the del- 
uges of water and of fire, which have laid such strong 
hold on the human fancy in every land and in every 
age. 

The purpose for which this addition was made to 
the simpler legend is clear enough. It was to avoid the 
dilemma of a creation from nothing on the one hand, 
and the eternity of matter on the other. Ex nihilo nihil 

1 Rel. de la Nouv. France, An. 1634, p. 13. 

2 Various animals take the place of the muskrat in this myth as 
it occurred among other tribes. Among the Uchees (or Yuchi) 
the crawfish brought the mud from the bottom, and the buzzard, 
by flapping its wings, formed the hills. A. S. Gatschet, Amer. 

Anthropologist, 1893, p. 280. 



ANTERIOR WORLDS. 



233 



is an apothegm indorsed alike by the profoundest meta- 
physicians and the rudest savages. 

But the other horn was no easier. To escape accept- 
ing the theory that the world had ever been as it now 
is, was the only object of a legend of its formation. 
As either lemma conflicts with fundamental laws of 
thought, this escape was eagerly adopted, and in the 
suggestive words of Prescott, men " sought relief from 
the oppressive idea of eternity by breaking it up into 
distinct cycles or periods of time." 1 

Vain but characteristic attempt of the ambitious 
mind of man ! The Hindoo philosopher reconciles to 
his mind the suspension of the world in space by im- 
agining it supported by an elephant, the elephant by a 
tortoise, and the tortoise by a serpent. We laugh at 
the Hindoo, and fancy we diminish the difficulty by 
explaining that it revolves around the sun, and the 
sun around some far-off star. Just so the general mind 
of humanity finds some satisfaction in supposing a 
world or a series of worlds anterior to the present, 
thus escaping the insoluble enigma of creation by re- 
moving it indefinitely in time. 

The support lent to these views by the presence of 
marine shells on high lands, or by faint reminiscences 
of local geologic convulsions, I estimate very low. 
Savages are not inductive philosophers, and by nothing 
short of a miracle could they preserve the remembrance 
of even the most terrible catastrophe beyond a few 
generations. 2 Nor has any such occurred within the 

1 Conquest of Mexico, i. p. 61. 

2 It is regretable that such a thoughtful author as 1m Thurn 
should content himself with the memory of local floods and fires 
as sufficient explanation of these cataclysmal myths. Indians of 
Guiana., p. 375. 



234 MYTHS OF CREATION, DELUGE AND LAST DAY. 

ken of history of sufficient magnitude to make a very 
permanent or wide-spread impression. 

Not physics, hut metaphysics, is the exciting cause 
of these "beliefs in periodical convulsions of the globe. 
The idea of matter cannot be separated from that of 
time, and time and eternity are contradictory terms. 
Common words show this connection. World, for ex- 
ample, in the old language, waereld, from the root to 
wear, by derivation means an age or cycle (Grimm). 

In effect a myth of creation is nowhere found among 
primitive nations. It seems repugnant to their reason. 
Dry land and animal life had a beginning, but not 
matter. A series of constructions and demolitions 
may conveniently be supposed for these. The analogy 
of nature, as seen in the vernal flowers springing up 
after the desolation of winter, of the sapling sprouting 
from the fallen trunk, of life everywhere rising from 
death, suggests such a view. 

Hence arose the belief in Epochs of Nature, elabo- 
rated by ancient philosophers into the Cycles of the 
Stoics, the Great Days of Brahm, long periods of time 
rounded off by sweeping destructions, the Cataclysms 
and Ekpyrauses of the universe. Some thought in 
these all beings perished ; others that a few survived. 1 

This latter and more common view is the origin of 
the myth of the deluge. How familiar such specula- 

1 For instance, Epictetus favors the opinion that at the solstices 
of the great year not only all human beings, but even the gods 
are annihilated ; and speculates whether at such times Jove feels 
lonely (Discourses, bk. iii. chap. 13). Macrobius, so far from coin- 
ciding with him, explains the great antiquity of Egyptian civiliza- 
tion by the hypothesis that that country is so happily situated 
between the pole and equator, as to escape both the deluge and 
conflagration of the great cycle (Somnium Scipionis, lib. ii. cap. 10). 



ANTEDILUVIANS. 



235 



tions were to the aborigines of America there is abun- 
dant evidence to show. 1 

The early Algonkin legends do not speak of an 
antediluvian race, nor of any family who escaped the 
waters. Michabo, the spirit of the dawn, their supreme 
deity, alone existed, and by his power formed and 
peopled it. Nor did their neighbors, the Dakotas, 
though firm in the belief that the globe had once been 
destroyed by the waters, suppose that any had es- 
caped. 2 The same view was entertained by the Nica- 
raguans 3 and the Botocudos of Brazil. The latter 
attributed its destruction to the moon falling to the 
earth from time to time. 4 The Aschochimi of Califor- 
nia told of the drowning of the world, so that no man 
escaped ; but when the waters retired the coyote went 
forth and planted the feathers of various birds, which 
grew into the various tribes of men. 5 

Much the most general opinion, however, was that 
some few escaped the desolating element by one of 
those means most familiar to the narrator, by ascend- 
ing some mountain, on a raft or canoe, in a cave, or 
even by climbing a tree. No doubt some of these 
legends have been modified by Christian teachings; 
but many of them are so connected with local peculi- 
arities and ancient religious ceremonies, that no un- 

1 A general discussion of the creation myths of the world may- 
be found in the learned work of Professor Bastian, Vorgeschichtliche 
Schopfungslieder, Berlin, 1893 ; and of the deluge myths of many 
nations in Dr. R. Andree's Fluthsagen; though the analysis of 
their origin in the latter appears to me to be incomplete. 

2 Schoolcraft, Ind. Tribes, iii. 263, iv. p. 230. 

3 Oviedo, Hist, du Nicaragua, pp. 22, 27. 

4 M filler, Amer. Urrelig., p. 254. 

5 Stephen Powers, Indians of California, p. 200. 



236 MYTHS OF CREATION, DELUGE AND LAST DAY. 

biased student can assign them wholly to that source, 
as Professor Vater and others have done, even if the 
authorities for many of them were less trustworthy 
than they are. There are no more common heirlooms 
in the traditional lore of the red race. Nearly every 
old author quotes one or more of them. They present 
great uniformity of outline, and rather than engage in 
repetitions of little interest, they can be more profitably 
studied in the aggregate than in detail. 

By far the greater number represent the last destruc- 
tion of the world to have been by water. A few, how- 
ever, the Takahlis of the North Pacific coast, the 
Yurucares of the Bolivian Cordilleras, and the Mbocobi 
of Paraguay, attribute it to a general conflagration 
which swept over the earth, consuming every living 
thing except a few who took refuge in a deep cave. 1 
The more common opinion of a submersion gave rise 
to those traditions of a universal flood so frequently 
recorded by travellers, and supposed by many to be 
reminiscences of that of Noah. 

There are, indeed, some points of striking similarity 
between the deluge myths of Asia and America. It 
has been called a peculiarity of the latter that in them 
the person saved is always the first man. This, though 
not without exception, is certainly the general rule. 
But these first men were usually the highest deities 
known to their nations, the only creators of the world, 
and the guardians of the race. 2 

1 Morse, Rep. on the Ind. Tribes, App. p. 346 ; D'Orbigny, Frag, 
d'.un Voyage dans V Amer. Merid., p. 512. 

2 When, as in the case of one of the Mexican Noahs, Coxcox, 
this does not seem to hold good, it is probably owing to a loss of 
the real form of the myth. Coxcox is also known by the name 
of Cipactli, Fish-god, and Huehue tonaca cipactli, Old Fish-god 
of Our Flesh. 



THE ABE. 



237 



Moreover, in an ancient Sanscrit legend of the flood 
in the Zatapatha Brahmana, Manu is also the first man, 
and by his own efforts creates offspring. 1 

A later Sanscrit work assigns to Manu the seven 
Eichis or shining ones as companions. Seven was also 
the number of persons in the ark of Noah. Curiously 
enough one Mexican and one early Peruvian myth 
give out exactly seven individuals as saved in their 
floods. 2 This coincidence arises from the mystic 
powers attached to the number seven, derived from its 
frequent occurrence in astrology. 

Proof of this appears by comparing the later and 
the older versions of this myth, either in the book of 
Genesis, where the latter is distinguished by the use 
of the word Elohim for Jehovah, 3 or the Sanscrit ac- 
count in the Zatapatha Brahmana with those in the 
later Puranas. In both instances the number seven 
hardly or at all occurs in the oldest version, while it is 
constantly repeated in those of later dates. 

In oriental mythology the seven planets are gen- 
erally supposed to have conferred this sacredness on 
the heptad. This was not the case in America. Nor 
was it derived as a rule from the observation of celestial 
bodies. It was from terrestrial relations and mythi- 
cally represented the objective universe or the All, 

1 The oldest Sanscrit reference to the flood-myth occurs in the 
Atharva Veda. Professor Hopkins is positive that it is indigenous 
to India, and not borrowed from Babylonian lore (Religions of In- 
dia, p. 160, Boston, 1895). 

2 Prescott, Conquest of Peru, i. p. 88 ; Codex Vaticanus, No. 3776, 
in Kingsborough. 

3 And also various peculiarities of style and language lost in 
translation. The two accounts of the Deluge are given side by 
side in Dr. Smith's Dictionary of the Bible under the word Penta- 
teuch. 



238 MYTE8 OF CREATION, DELUGE AND LAST DAY. 

being derived from the four quarters of the earth-plane, 
the zenith, the nadir, and the centre. This is shown 
clearly in the rituals of the Zunis and other tribes. As 
thus typifying completion, it became intimately asso- 
ciated with the computations of the calendar in Mexico 
and Central America, and entered into numerous other 
divinatory and mythical relations, such as the seven 
ancestors or seven caves Chicomoztoc, from whom the 
Aztec claimed descent, the seven council fires of the 
Dakotas, the seven clans of the Cakchiquels, etc. 1 

As the mountain or rather mountain chain of Ararat 
was regarded with veneration wherever the Semitic ac- 
counts were known, so in America heights were pointed 
out with becoming reverence as those on which the few 
survivors of the dreadful scenes of the deluge were 
preserved. On the Red River near the village of the 
Caddoes was one of these, a small natural eminence, 
" to which all the Indian tribes for a great distance 
around pay devout homage," according to Dr. Sibley. 2 
The Cerro Naztarny on the Rio Grande, the peak of 
Old Zuni in New Mexico, that of Colhuacan on the 
Pacific coast, Mount Apoala in Upper Mixteca, and 
Mount Neba in the province of Guaymi, are some of 
many elevations asserted by the neighboring nations 
to have been places of refuge for their ancestors when 
the fountains of the great deep broke forth. 

One of the Mexican traditions related by Torque- 
mada identified this with the mountain of Tlaloc in the 
terrestrial paradise, and added that one of the seven 
demigods who escaped commenced the pyramid of 

1 Compare S. E. Eiggs, Dakota Grammar, p. 187 (1893) ; Annals 
of the Cakchiquels, passim ; Brinton, Native Calendar, p. 13. 

2 American State Papers, Indian Affairs, i. p. 729. Date of legend, 
about 1801. 



BIRDS IN TEE DELUGE. 



239 



Cholula in its memory. He intended that its summit 
should reach the clouds, but the gods, angry at his pre- 
sumption, drove away the builders with lightning. This 
has a suspicious resemblance to Bible stories. 

Equally fabulous was the retreat of the Araucanians. 
It was a three-peaked mountain which had the prop- 
erty of floating on water, called Theg-Theg, the Thun- 
derer. This they believed would preserve them in the 
next as it did in the last cataclysm, and as its only in- 
convenience was that it approached too near the sun, 
they always kept on hand wooden bowls to use as 
parasols. 1 

The intimate connection that once existed between 
the myths of the, deluge and those of the creation is 
illustrated by the part assigned to birds in so many of 
them. They fly to and fro over the waves ere any land 
appears, though they lose in great measure the signifi- 
cance of bringing it forth, attached to them in the cos- 
mogonies as emblems of the divine spirit. The dove 
in the Hebrew account appears in that of the Algonkins 
as a raven, which Michabo sent out to search for land 
before the muskrat brought it to him from the bottom. 
A raven also in the Thlinkit and derived myths saved 
their ancestors from the general flood, and in this in- 
stance it is distinctly identified with the mighty thun- 
der bird, who at the beginning ordered the earth from 
the depths. Prometheus-like, it brought fire from 
heaven, and saved them from a second death by cold. 3 

1 Molina, Hist, of Chili, ii. p. 82. 

3 See Kichardson, Arctic Expedition, p. 239 ; A. Krause, Die 
Thlinkit Indianer, chap. x. ; A. G. Mo rice, in Trans. Boy. Soc. Canada, 
1892, p. 124 ; the writings of Dr. Franz Boas, etc. The Kwakiutl 
called this mythic bird, Kaneakeluh; the Carriers, Estas ; the Hai- 
dah, Nikilstlas ; the Tshimshians, Caugh. 



240 MYTHS OF CREATION, DELUGE AND LAST DAY. 



This wondrous bird Yetl was the central character of 
the myths of all the coast tribes from the Eskimos well 
into and beyond Vancouver Island ; and under various 
names, but playing the same role in the mighty drama 
of the creation and destruction of things, was familiar 
to the Athapascan tribes far inland. 

Precisely the same beneficent actions were attributed 
by the Natchez to the small red cardinal bird, 1 and by 
the Mandans and Cherokees an active participation in 
the event was assigned to wild pigeons. The Navajos 
and Aztecs thought that instead of being drowned by 
the waters the human race were tranformed into birds 
and thus escaped. 

In all these and similar legends, the bird is a relic of 
the cosmogonal myth which explained the origin of the 
world from the action of the winds, under the image 
of the bird, on the primeval ocean. 

The Mexican Codex Vaticanus No. 3738 represents 
after the picture of the deluge a bird perched on the 
summit of a tree, and at its foot men in the act of 
marching. This has been interpreted to mean that 
after the deluge men were dumb until a dove distrib- 
uted to them the gift of speech. The New Mexican 
tribes related that all except the leader of those who 
escaped to the mountains lost the power of utterance 
by terror, 2 and the Quiches that the antediluvian race 
were " puppets, men of wood, without intelligence or 
language." 

These stories, so closely resembling that of the con- 
fusion of tongues at the tower of Babel or Borsippa, are 
of doubtful authenticity. The first is an erroneous 

1 Dumont, Mems. Hist, sur la Louisiane, i. p. 163. 

2 Schoolcraft, Ind. Tribes, v. p. 686. 



STOBIES OF GIANTS. 



241 



interpretation, as has been shown by Sefior Ramirez, 
director of the Museum of Antiquities at Mexico. The 
name of the bird in the Aztec tongue was identical 
with the word departure, and this is its signification in 
the painting. 1 

Stories of giants in the days of old, figures of mighty 
proportions looming up through the mist of ages, are 
common property to every nation. The Mexicans and 
Peruvians had them as well as others, but their con- 
nection with the legends of the flood and the creation 
is incidental and secondary. Were the case otherwise, 
it would offer no additional point of similarity to the 
Hebrew myth, for the word rendered giants in the 
phrase, " and there were giants in those days," has no 
such meaning in the original. It is a blunder which 
crept into the Septuagint, and has been cherished ever 
since, along with so many others in the received text. 

A few specimens will serve as examples of all these 
American flood myths. The Abbe Brasseur has trans- 
lated one from the Codex Chimalpopoca, a work in the 
Nahuatl language of Ancient Mexico, written about 
half a century after the conquest. It is as follows : 

" And this year was that of Ce-calli, and on the first 
day all was lost. The mountain itself was submerged 
in the water, and the water remained tranquil for fifty- 
two springs. 

" Now towards the close of the year, Titlacahuan had 
forewarned the man named Nata and his wife named 
Nena, saying, ' Make no more pulque, but straightway 
hollow out a large cypress, and enter it when in the 
month Tozoztli the water shall approach the sky.' 
They entered it, and when Titlacahuan had closed the 

1 Desjardins, Le Perou avant la Conq. Espagn., p. 27. 
16 



242 MYTHS OF CREATION, DELUGE AND LAST DAY. 



door he said, ' Thou shalt eat but a single ear of maize, 
and thy wife but one also.' 

" As soon as they had finished [eating], they went 
forth and the water was tranquil ; for the log did not 
move any more ; and opening it they saw many fish. 

11 Then they built a fire, rubbing together pieces of 
wood, and they roasted the fish. The gods Citlallinicue 
and Citlallatonac looking below exclaimed, ' Divine 
Lord, what means that fire below ? Why do they thus 
smoke the heavens ?' 

"Straightway descended Titlacahuan Tezcatlipoca, 
and commenced to scold, saying, ' What is this fire do- 
ing here?' And seizing the fishes he moulded their 
hinder parts and changed their heads, and they were 
at once transformed into dogs." 1 

That found in the oft quoted legends of the Quiches 
is to this effect : — 

" Then by the will of the Heart of Heaven the waters 
were swollen and a great flood came upon the manikins 
of wood. For they did not think nor speak of the Cre- 
ator who had created them, and who had caused their 
birth. They were drowned, and a thick resin fell from 
heaven. 

" The bird Xecotcovach tore out their eyes ; the bird 
Camulatz cut off their heads ; the bird Cotzbalam de- 
voured their flesh; the bird Tecumbalam broke their 
bones and sinews and ground them into powder." 2 

" Because they had not thought of their Mother and 

1 Cod. Chimalpopoca, in Brasseur, Hist, du Mexique, Pieces Jus- 
tificatives. 

2 These four birds, whose names have lost their signification, 
represent doubtless the four winds, or the four rivers, which, as in 
so many legends, are the active agents in overwhelming the world 
in its great crises. 



THE QUICHE DELUGE. 



243 



Father, the Heart of Heaven, whose name is Hurakan, 
therefore the face of the earth grew dark and a pouring 
rain commenced, raining by day, raining by night. 

" Then all sorts of beings, little and great, gathered 
together to abuse the men to their faces ; and all spoke, 
their mill-stones, their plates, their cups, their dogs, 
their hens. 

" Said the dogs and hens, ' Very badly have you 
treated us, and you have bitten us. Now we bite you 
in turn.' 

" Said the mill-stones, ' Very much were we tormented 
by you, and daily, daily, night and day, it was squeak, 
squeak, screech, screech, for your sake. Now yourselves 
shall feel our strength, and we will grind your flesh, 
and make meal of your bodies,' said the mill-stones. 1 

"And this is what the dogs said, i Why did you not 
give us our food ? No sooner did we come near than 
you drove us away, and the stick was always within 
reach when you were eating, because, forsooth, we were 
not able to talk. Now we will use our teeth and eat 
you,' said the dogs, tearing their faces. 

"And the cups and dishes said, ' Pain, and misery 
you gave us, smoking our tops and sides, cooking us 
over the fire, burning and hurting us as if we had no 
feeling. 2 Now it is your turn, and you shall burn,' said 
the cups insultingly. 

1 The word rendered mill-stones, in the original means those 
large hollowed stones called metates on which the women were ac- 
customed to bruise the maize. The imitative sounds for which I 
have substituted others in English, are in Quiche*, holi, holt, huqui, 
huqui. 

2 Brasseur translates " quoique nous ne sentissions rien/ ' but 
Ximenes, "nos quemasteis, y sentimos el dolor." As far as I can 
make out the original, it is the negative conditional as I have 
given it in the text. 



244 MYTHS OF CREATION, DELUGE AND LAST DAY. 



" Then ran the men hither and thither in despair. 
They climbed to the roofs of the houses, but the houses 
crumbled under their feet ; they tried to mount to the 
tops of the trees, but the trees hurled them far from 
them; they sought refuge in the caverns, but the 
caverns shut before them. 

" Thus was accomplished the ruin of this race, des- 
tined to be destroyed and overthrown ; thus were they 
given over to destruction and contempt. And it is said 
that their posterity are those little monkeys who live 
in the woods." 1 

The Algonkin tradition has often been referred to. 
Many versions of it are extant, the oldest and most 
authentic of which is that translated from the Montag- 
nais dialect by Father le Jeune, in 1634. 

" One day as Messou was hunting, the wolves which 
he used as dogs entered a great lake and were detained 
there. 

" Messou, looking for them everywhere, a bird said to 
him, ' I see them in the middle of this lake.' 

"He entered the lake to rescue them, but the lake, 
overflowing its banks, covered the land and destroyed 
the world. 

" Messou, very much astonished at this, sent out the 
raven to find a piece of earth wherewith to rebuild the 
land, but the bird could find none ; then he ordered 
the otter to dive for some, but the animal returned 
empty ; at last he sent down the muskrat, who came 
back with ever so small a piece, which, however, was 
enough for Messou to form the land on which we are. 

" The trees having lost their branches, he shot 
arrows at their naked trunks, which became their 

1 Le Livre Sacre, p. 27 ; Ximenes, Or. de los Indios, p. 13. 



TEE TUP I DELUGE. 



245 



limbs, revenged himself on those who had detained his 
wolves, and having married the muskrat, by it peopled 
the world." 

Next may be given the meagre legend of the Tupis 
of Brazil, as heard by Hans Staden, a prisoner among 
them about 1550, and Coreal, a later voyager. Their 
ancient songs relate that a long time ago, a certain 
very powerful Mair, that is to say a stranger, who 
bitterly hated their ancestors, compassed their de- 
struction by a violent inundation. Only a very few 
succeeded in escaping — some by climbing trees, others 
in caves. When the waters subsided the remnant 
came together, and by gradual increase populated the 
world. 1 

Or, it is narrated by an equally ancient authority as 
follows : — 

" Monan (the Maker, the Begetter), without beginning 
or end, author of all that is, seeing the ingratitude of 
men, and their contempt for him who had made them 
thus joyous, withdrew from them, and sent upon them 
tata, the divine fire, which burned all that was on the 
surface of the earth. He swept about the fire in such 
a way that in places he raised mountains, and in others 

1 The American nations among whom a distinct and well- 
authenticated myth of the deluge was found are the Athapascas, 
Algonkins, Iroquois, Cherokees, Chikasaws, Caddos, Caraxas, 
Guaymis, Pumarys, Pawnees, Natchez, Dakotas, Apaches, Nava- 
jos, Mandans, Pueblo Indians, Aztecs, Mixtecs, Zapotecs, Tlas- 
calans, Mechoacans, Toltecs, Nahuas, Mayas, Quiches, Haitians, 
natives of Darien and Popoyan, Muyscas, Quichuas, Tupinambas, 
Achaguas, Araucanians, and many others. The article by M. de 
Charency in the Revue Americaine, 11 Le Deluge d' apr fa les Traditions 
Indiennes de VAmerique du Nord" contains some valuable extracts, 
but offers for their existence no rational explanation. Andree's 
Fluthsagen quotes a number. 



246 MYTHS OF CREATION, DELUGE AND LAST DAY. 



dug valleys. Of all men one alone, Irin Mage (the one 
who sees), was saved, whom Monan carried into the 
heaven. He, seeing all things destroyed, spoke thus to 
Monan : ' Wilt thou also destroy the heavens and their 
garniture ? Alas ! henceforth where will be our home ? 
Why should I live, since there is none other of my 
kind ?' Then Monan was so filled with pity that he 
poured a deluging rain on the earth, which quenched 
the fire, and, flowing from all sides, formed the ocean, 
which we call parana, the great waters." 1 

A reflection of this myth appears in that of the 
Mbocobis of Paraguay. The destruction of the world 
was due to the sun. This orb once fell from the sky, 
but a Mbocobi hastened to pick it up before it did any 
injury, and fastened it in its place with pegs. A second 
time it fell and burnt up the earth. Two of the tribe, 
a man and his wife, climbed a tree and escaped destruc- 
tion, but a flash of flame reached them and they fell to 
the ground, where they were changed into monkeys. 2 

The Guaymis of Costa Rica, a tribe with South 
American affinities, told the story thus : 

" Angered with the world, the mighty Noncomala 
poured over it a flood of water, killing every man and 
woman ; but the kindly god Nubu had preserved the 
seed of a man, and when the waters had dried up he 
sowed it on the moist earth. From the best of it rose 
the race of men, and from that which was imperfect 
came the monkeys." 3 

1 The original authority for this is Thevet. In other myths 
collected by Simon de Vasconcellos, Tamandare is the Brazilian 
Noah. Barbosa Kodriguez gives that of the Pamerys, Poranduba 
Amazoneme, p. 213. 

2 Guevara, Hist, del Paraguay, cap. xv. 

3 Pedro Melendez, Tesoros Verdaderos de las Tndias, I. p. 4. 



THE HINDOO DELUGE. 



247 



In most of the true South American myths the pecu- 
liar machinery is that the god pours the water from a 
calabash or jar, while in North America he causes a 
lake or sea to overflow. 1 

In these narratives I have not attempted to soften 
the asperities nor conceal the childishness which runs 
through them. But there is no occasion to be aston- 
ished at these peculiarities, nor to found upon them 
any disadvantageous opinion of the mental powers of 
their authors and believers. We can go back to the 
cradle of our own race in Central Asia, and find tradi- 
tions every whit as infantile. I cannot refrain from 
adding the earliest Aryan myth of the same great 
occurrence, as it is handed down to us in ancient San- 
scrit literature. It will be seen that it is little, if at all, 
superior to those just rehearsed. 

" Early in the morning they brought to Manu water 
to wash himself ; when he had well washed, a fish came 
into his hands. 

" It said to him these words : ' Take care of me ; I 
will save thee.' ' What wilt thou save me from ?' ' A 
deluge will sweep away all creatures ; I wish thee to 
escape.' 1 But how shall I take care of thee V 

" The fish said : ' While we are small there is more 
than one danger of death, for one fish swallows another. 
Thou must, in the first place, put me in a vase. Then, 
when I shall exceed it in size, thou must dig a deep 
ditch, and place me in it. When I grow too large for 
it, throw me in the sea, for I shall then be beyond the 
danger of death.' 

" Soon it became a great fish ; it grew, in fact, aston- 
ishingly. Then it said to Manu, ' In such a year the 

1 Cf. Paul Ehrenreich, Die Karayastamme, p. 41. 



248 MYTHS OF CREATION, DELUGE AND LAST DAY. 



Deluge will come. Thou must build a vessel, and then 
pay me homage. When the waters of the Deluge mount 
up, enter the vessel. I will save thee.' 

" When Manu had thus taken care of the fish, he put 
it in the sea. The same year that the fish had said, in 
that very year, having built the vessel, he paid the fish 
homage. Then the Deluge mounting, he entered the 
vessel. The fish swam near him. To its horn Manu 
fastened the ship's rope, with which the fish passed the 
Mountain of the North. 

a The fish said, ' See ! I have saved thee. Fasten the 
vessel to a tree, so that the water does not float thee 
onward when thou art on the mountain top. As the 
water decreases, thou wilt descend little by little.' Thus 
Manu descended gradually. Therefore to the mountain 
of the north remains the name, Descent of Manu. The 
Deluge had destroyed all creatures; Manu survived 
alone." 1 

Hitherto I have spoken only of the last convulsion 
which swept over the face of the globe, and of but one 
cycle which preceded the present. Most of the more 
savage tribes contented themselves with this, but it is 
instructive to observe how, as they advanced in culture, 
and the mind dwelt more intently on the great prob- 
lems of Life and Time, they were impelled to remove 
further and further the dim and mysterious Beginning. 

The Peruvians imagined that tivo destructions had 
taken place, the first by a famine, the second by a 
flood — according to some a few only escaping — but, 

1 Felix jS"eve, La Tradition Indienne du Deluge ; also Hopkins, The 
Religions of India, p. 214. The original is in the £atapatha Brahmana. 
There is in the oldest versions no distinct reference to an antedilu- 
vian race, and in India Manu is by common consent the Adam as 
well aa the Noah of their legends. 



AGES OF THE WORLD. 



249 



after the more widely accepted opinion, accompanied 
by the absolute extirpation of the race. Three eggs, 
which dropped from heaven, hatched out the present 
race ; one of gold, from which came the priests ; one 
of silver, which produced the warriors ; and the last of 
copper, source of the common people. 1 

The Mayas of Yucatan increased the previous worlds 
by one, making the present the fourth. Two cycles had 
terminated by devastating plagues. They were called 
" the sudden deaths," for it was said so swift and mor- 
tal was the pest, that the buzzards and other foul birds 
dwelt in the houses of the cities, and ate the bodies of 
their former owners. The third closed either by a hur- 
ricane, which blew from all four of the cardinal points 
at once, or else, as others said, by an inundation, which 
swept across the world, swallowing all things in its 
mountainous surges. 2 

As might be expected, the vigorous intellects of the 

1 Avendano, Sermones (Lima, 1648), in Kivero and Tschudi, 
Peruv. Aniiqs., p. 114. In the year 1600, Ofiate found on the coast 
of California a tribe whose idol held in one hand a shell contain- 
ing three eggs, in the other an ear of maize, while before it was 
placed a cup of water. Vizcaino, who visited the same people a 
few years afterwards, mentions that they kept in their temples 
tame ravens, and looked upon them as sacred birds (Torquemada, 
Mon. Ind. } lib. v. cap. 40). Thus, in all parts of the continent do 
we find the bird, as a symbol of the clouds, associated with the 
rains and the harvests. 

2 The deluge was called hun yecil, which, according to Cogolludo, 
means the inundation of the trees, for all the forests were swept away 
(Hist, de Yucathan, lib. iv. cap. 5). Bishop Landa adds, to sub- 
stantiate the legend, that all the woods of the peninsula appear as 
if they had been planted at one time, and that to look at them one 
would say they had been trimmed with scissors (Rel de las Cosas de 
Yucatan, 58, 60). 



250 MYTHS OF CREATION, DELUGE AND LAST DAY. 

Aztecs impressed upon this myth a fixity of outline 
nowhere else met with on the continent, and wove it 
intimately into their astrological reveries and religious 
theories. Unaware of its prevalence under more rudi- 
mentary forms throughout the continent, Alexander 
von Humboldt observed that, " of all the traits of 
analogy which can be pointed out between the monu- 
ments, manners, and traditions of Asia and America, 
the most striking is that offered by the Mexican my- 
thology in the cosmogonical fiction of the periodical 
destructions and regenerations of the universe." 1 Yet 
it is but the same fiction that existed elsewhere, some- 
what more definitely outlined. 

There exists great discrepancy between the different 
authorities, both as to the number of Aztec ages or 
Suns, as they were called, their durations, their termi- 
nations, and their names. The preponderance of tes- 
timony is in favor of four antecedent cycles, the present 
being the fifth. The interval from the first creation to 
the commencement of the present epoch, owing to the 
equivocal meaning of the numeral signs expressing it 
in the picture writings, may have been either 15,228, 
2316, or 1404 solar years. Why these numbers should 
have been chosen, no one has guessed. It has been 
looked for in combinations of numbers connected with 
the calendar, but so far in vain. 2 

While most authorities agree as to the character of 
the destructions which terminated the suns, they vary 
much as to their sequence. Water, winds, fire, and 
hunger, are the agencies, and in one Codex (Vaticanus) 

1 Vues des Cordillhrs, p. 202. 

2 The most careful modern study of the Aztec Ages or Suns is 
that by Dr. Ed. Seler (Berlin, 1895). 



THE MEXICAN "SUNS." 



251 



occur in this order. Gama gives the sequence, hunger, 
winds, fire, and water; Humboldt, hunger, fire, winds, 
and water; Boturini, water, hunger, winds, fire. As 
the cycle ending by a famine is called the Age of Earth, 
Ternaux-Compans, the distinguished French Am'eri- 
caniste, has imagined that the four Suns correspond 
mystically to the domination exercised in turn over 
the world by its four constituent elements. But proof 
is wanting that Aztec philosophers knew the theory on 
which this, explanation reposes. 

Baron Humboldt suggested that the suns were " fic- 
tions of mythological astronomy, modified either by 
obscure reminiscences of some great revolution suf- 
fered by our planet, or by physical hypotheses, sug- 
gested by the sight of marine petrifactions and fossil 
remains," 1 while the Abbe Brasseur, in his works on 
ancient Mexico, interprets them as exaggerated refer- 
ences to historical events. 

As no solution can be accepted not equally applicable 
to the same myth as it appears in Yucatan, Peru, and 
the hunting tribes, and to the exactly parallel teach- 
ings of the Edda, 2 the Stoics, the Celts, and the Brah- 
mans, both of these must be rejected. And although 
the Hindoo legend is so close to the Aztec, that it, too, 
defines four ages, each terminating by a general catas- 

1 Vuesdes Cordilleres, ii. p. 118, sq. 

2 The Scandinavians believed the universe had been destroyed 
nine times : — 

Ni Verdener yeg husker, 
Og ni Himle, 

says the Voluspa (i. 2, in Klee, Le Deluge, p. 220). I observe some 
English writers have supposed from these lines that the Northmen 
believed in the existence of nine abodes for the blessed. Such is 
not the sense of the original. 



252 MYTHS OF CREATION, DELUGE AND LAST DAY. 

trophe, and each catastrophe exactly the same in both, 1 
yet this is not at all indicative of a derivation from one 
original, but simply an illustration how the human 
mind, under the stimulus of the same intellectual crav- 
ings, produces like results. What these cravings are 
has already been shown. 

The reason for adopting four ages, thus making the 
present the fifth, probably arose from the sacredness 
of that number in general, as connected with the four 
cardinal points, the four quarters of the world or space, 
and hence an assumed fourfold period of time or dura- 
tion; but directly, because this was the number of 
secular days in the Mexican week. A parallel is offered 
by the Hebrew narrative. In it six epochs or days 
precede the seventh or present cycle, in which the 
creative power rests. This latter corresponded to the 
Jewish Sabbath, the day of repose ; and in the Mexican 
calendar each fifth day was also a day of repose, em- 
ployed in marketing and pleasure. 

Doubtless the theory of the Ages of the world was 
long in vogue among the Aztecs before it received the 
definite form in which we now have it ; and as this 
was acquired long after the calendar was fixed, it is 
every way probable that the latter was used as a guide 
to the former. Echevarria, a good authority on such 
matters, says the number of the Suns was agreed upon 
at a congress of astrologists, within the memory of 
tradition. 2 

Now in the calendar, these signs occur in the order, 

1 At least this is the doctrine of one of the Shastas. The race, 
it teaches, has been destroyed four times ; first by water, secondly 
by winds, thirdly the earth swallowed them, and lastly fire con- 
sumed them (Sepp, Heidenthum und Christenthum, i. p. 191). 

2 Echevarria y Veitia, Hist, de la Nueva Espana, lib. i. cap. 4. 



THE END OF THE WORLD. 



253 



earth, air, water, fire, corresponding to the days distin- 
guished by the symbols house, rabbit, reed, and flint. 
This sequence, commencing with Tochtli (rabbit, air), 
is that given as that of the Suns in the Codex Chimal- 
popoca, translated by Brasseur, though it seems a taint 
of European teaching, when it is added that on the 
seventh day of the creation man was formed. 1 

Neither Jews nor Aztecs, nor indeed any American 
nation, appear to have supposed, with some of the old 
philosophers, that the present was an exact repetition 
of previous cycles, 2 but rather that each was an im- 
provement on the preceding, a step in endless progress. 
Nor did either connect these beliefs with astronomical 
reveries of a great year, defined by the return of the 
heavenly bodies to one relative position in the heavens. 
The latter seems characteristic of the realism of Europe, 
the former of the idealism of the Orient ; both incon- 
sistent with the meagre astronomy and more scanty 
metaphysics of the red race. 

The expectation of the end of the world is a natural 
complement to the belief in periodical destructions of 
our globe. As at certain times past the equipoise 
of nature was lost, and the elements breaking the chain 
of laws that bound them ran' riot over the universe, 
involving all life in one mad havoc and desolation, so 
in the future we have to expect that day of doom, 
when the ocean tides shall obey no shore, but over- 
whelm the continents with their mountainous billows, 

1 Brasseur, Hist, du Mezique, iii. p. 495 . 

2 The contrary has indeed been inferred from such expressions 
of the writer of the book of Ecclesiastes as, "that which hath 
been, is now, and that which is to be, hath already been" (chap, 
iii. 15), and the like, but they are susceptible of an application 
entirely subjective. 



254 MYTHS OF CREATION, DELUGE AND LAST DAY. 

or the fire, now chafing in volcanic craters and smoking 
springs, will leap forth on the forests and grassy 
meadows, wrapping all things in a winding sheet of 
flame, and melting the very elements with fervid heat. 

Then, in the language of the Norse prophetess, 
" shall the sun grow dark, the land sink in the waters, 
the bright stars be quenched, and high flames climb 
heaven itself." 1 These fearful forebodings have cast 
their dark shadow on every literature. The seeress of 
the north does but paint in wilder colors the terrible 
pictures of Seneca, 2 and the sibyl of the capitol only 
re-echoes the inspired predictions of Malachi. Well 
has the Christian poet said : — 

Dies irse, dies ilia, 
Solvet sseclum in favilla, 
Teste David cum Sibyla. 

Savage races, isolated in the impenetrable forests of 
another continent, could not escape this fearful looking 
for of destruction to come. It oppressed their souls 
like a weight of lead. On the last night of each cycle 
of fifty-two years, the Aztecs extinguished every fire, 
and proceeded, in solemn procession, to some sacred 
spot. Then the priests, with awe and trembling, sought 
to kindle a new fire by friction. Momentous was the 
endeavor, for did it fail, their fathers had taught them 
on the morrow no sun would rise, and darkness, death, 
and the waters would descend forever on this beautiful 
world. 

The same terror inspired the Peruvians at every 
eclipse, for some day, taught the Amautas, the shadow 

1 Voluspa, xiv. 51, in Klee, Le Deluge. 

2 Natur. Qucestiones, iii. cap. 27. 



THE END OF THE WORLD. 



255 



will veil the sun forever, and land, moon, and stars will 
be wrapt in a devouring conflagration to know no 
regeneration ; or a drought will wither every herb of 
the field, suck up the waters, and leave the race to 
perish to the last creature; or the moon will fall from 
her place in the heavens and involve all things in her 
own ruin, a figure of speech meaning that the waters 
would submerge the land. 1 

In that dreadful day, thought the Algonkins, when 
in anger Michabo will send a mortal pestilence to 
destroy the nations, or, stamping his foot on the ground, 
flames will burst forth to consume the habitable land, 
only a pair, or only, at most, those who have maintained 
inviolate the institutions he ordained, will he protect 
and preserve to inhabit the new world he will then 
fabricate. Therefore they do not speak of this catas- 
trophe as the end of the world, but use one of those 
nice grammatical distinctions so frequent in American 
aboriginal languages, and which can only be imitated, 
not interpreted, in ours, signifying " when it will be 
near its end," " when it will no longer be available for 
man." 2 

An ancient prophecy handed down from their ances- 
tors warns the Winnebagoes that their nation shall be 
annihilated at the close of the thirteenth generation. 
Ten have already passed, and that now living has 
appointed ceremonies to propitiate the powers of heaven, 
and mitigate its stern decree. 3 Well may they be about 
it, for there is a gloomy probability that the warning 
came from no false prophet. 

1 Velasco, Hist, du Royaume du Quito, p. 105 ; Navarrete, Viages, 
iii. p. 444. 

2 Bel. de la Nouv. France, An. 1637, p. 54 ; Schoolcraft, Ind. Tribes, 
i. p. 319, iv. p. 420. 3 Schoolcraft, ibid., iv. p. 240. 



256 MYTHS OF CREATION, DELUGE AND LAST DAY. 



Few tribes were destitute of such presentiments. 
The Chikasaw, the Mandans of the Missouri, the Pueblo 
Indians of New Mexico, the Muyscas of Bogota, the 
Botocudos of Brazil, the Araucanians of Chili, have 
been asserted on testimony that leaves no room for 
scepticism, to have entertained such forebodings from 
immemorial time. 

Enough for the purpose if the list is closed with the 
prediction of a Maya priest, cherished by the inhabi- 
tants of Yucatan long before the Spaniard desolated 
their stately cities. It is one of those preserved by 
Father Lizana, cure of Itzamal, and of which he gives 
the original. Other witnesses inform us that this na- 
tion " had a tradition that the world would end," 1 and 
probably, like the Greeks and Aztecs, they supposed 
the gods would perish with it. 

" At the close of the ages, it hath been decreed, 
Shall perish and vanish each weak god of men, 
And the world shall be purged with a ravening fire. 
Happy the man in that terrible day, 
Who bewails with contrition the sins of his life, 
And meets without flinching the fiery ordeal." 2 

1 Cogolludo, Hist, de Yucathan, lib. iv. cap. 7. 

2 The Spanish of Lizana is — 

" En la ultima edad, segun esta determinado, 

Avra fin el culto de dioses vanos ; 

Y el mundo sera purificado con fuego. 

El que esto viere sara llamado dichoso 

Si con dolor llorare sus pecados." 
(Hist, de Nuestra Senora de Itzamal, in Brasseur, Hist, du Mexique, 
p. 603.) 



THE ORIGIN OF MAN. 



257 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE ORIGIN OF MAN. 

Usually man is the Earth-born, both in language and myths. — 
The Earth-Mother. — Illustrations from the legends of the Caribs, 
Apalachians, Iroquois, Quichuas, Aztecs, and others. — The 
underworld. — Man the product of one of the primal creative 
powers, the Spirit or the Water, in the myths of the Athapas- 
cas, Eskimos, Moxos, and others. Not literally derived from 
an inferior species. 

"VTOman can escape the importunate question, Whence 
- am I ? The first replies framed to meet it possess 
an interest to the thoughtful mind, beyond that of 
mere fables: They illustrate the position in creation 
claimed by our race, and the early workings of self- 
consciousness. Often the oldest terms for man are 
synopses of these replies, and merit a more than pass- 
ing contemplation. 

The seed is hidden in the earth. Warmed by the 
sun, watered by the rain, presently it bursts its dark 
prison-house, unfolds its delicate leaves, blossoms, and 
matures its fruit. Its work done, the earth draws it to 
itself again, resolves the various structures into their 
original mould, and the unending round recommences. 

This is the marvellous process that struck the primi- 
tive mind. Out of the Earth rises life, to it it returns. 
She it is who guards all germs, nourishes all beings. 
The Aztecs painted her as a woman with countless 
breasts, the Peruvians called her Mama Allpa, mother 

17 



258 



THE ORIGIN OF MAN. 



earth ; the Caribs addressed her as Mama Nono, " the 
good mother from whom all things come." 1 In the 
Algonkin dialects the word for earth, ohke, is derived 
from the same radical as mother and father, a verbal 
which means to come forth from. 2 So in the creation 
myths of the Zuftis we read of the " Fourfold contain- 
ing Mother Earth," and of " Earth with her fourfold 
Womb." 3 

In the legends of the Dakotas, the female Unktahe, 
the invisible powers which conduct the motions of the 
world, dwell in the earth. It was they, indeed, who 
first lifted it to the surface of the primeval waters and 
fitted it for habitable land. They are still its vitalizers, 
and their cult is connected with that of the reproduc- 
tive powers and the lingam symbol. 4 

In the legends of the western Algonkins the earth is 
spoken of by the tender word Nokomis, my grand- 
mother, and from her fertile womb issued all nations 
of the world. 

It was a curious result of this myth of the Earth- 
Mother that led the Passes of Brazil to the surprising 
conclusion that the earth moves around the sun ! It 
is a great creature, said they, the rivers and streams are 
its bloodvessels, and it turns itself, first one side then 
the other to the sun, that it may keep itself warm. 5 

Distinctly related to the notion of the earth as the 
mother and matrix of men and animals was the re- 
verse of the concept, to wit, that which regarded her 
as the tomb as well as the womb of all. 

1 Kochefort, Hist, des Isles Antilles, p. 469. 

2 Trumbull, note to Koger Williams, Lang, of America, p. 56. 

3 Cushing, Creation Myths of the Zufiis, p. 379. 

4 Riggs in Dorsey, Siouan Cults, pp.438, 534. 

5 Martius, Ethnog. und Sprach. Amerikas, p. 508. 



THE EARTH-MO THEB. 



259 



In the esoteric language of the Nagualists of Mexico 
which preserved in later days the national religion, 
the earth was invoked as Tonan, Our Mother, and as 
" the flower which contains all flowers/' for from her 
prolific breast all come forth ; but another and ominous 
one of her titles was, " The mouth which eats all 
mouths for she it is that at last eats all eaters. 1 

Those of Tezcuco therefore painted her in their sa- 
cred books under the figure of a wild beast with mouths 
at every joint, dripping with blood ; for, said they, she 
it is who eats and swallows all things. One of her 
names was llama, " The Old Woman," to whom a 
woman victim was sacrificed at night, with tears and 
grief, for the earth-mother will be the grave of all that 
breathes. 2 How appropriate the name was to the na- 
tive mind is seen in the Quichua language of Peru, 
where our expression, " to grow old," is rendered by 
allpa-way, " to become earthen," " to change to earth," 3 
and unwittingly, how correctly does it express that 
gradual increase of inorganic matter in the system 
which is the physiological cause of senile changes ! 

With almost the same imagery the Creeks in their 
national legend say that " the Earth ate up the children 
of the ancestors and they add that when the day of 
the final extinction of their nation shall arrive, they 
will disappear in " the navel of the earth," returning 
whence they came.* In the Mayan theogony the earth 

1 De la Serna, Manual de Ministros, p. 223. 

2 Torquemada, Monarquia Indiana, lib. vi. c. 44 ; lib. x. c. 29, etc. 

3 Middendorf, Keshua Worterbuch, s. v. allpa. 

4 Gatschet, Migration Legend of Creeks, ii. 27. He cites a similar 
belief of the Klamaths. In Aztec legend, the temple Tlalxicco, ' 'the 
Navel of the Earth, ' ' was supposed to be the entrance to the un- 
derworld of the dead (Torquemada, Mon. Indiana, lib. viii. cap. 12). 



260 



THE ORIGIN OF MAN 



is, indeed, the common ancestress of the race of men ; 
but her usual name is Ix-niucane, " the woman who 
buries " all things. 

From the womb of the earth, therefore, figuratively 
or literally, did man, in the primitive thought of many 
races, proceed and emerge. Homo, Adam, chamaigenes, 
what do all these words mean but the earth-born, the 
son of the soil, repeated in the poetic language of Attica 
in anthropos, " he who springs up as a flower?" 

The word that corresponds to the Latin 1 homo in 
American languages has such singular uniformity in so 
many of them, that we might be tempted to regard it 
as a fragment of some ancient and common tongue, 
their parent stem. In the Eskimo it is inuk, innuk, 
plural innuit; in Athapasca it is dinni, tenne; in Pima, 
tinot; in Algonkin, inini, lenni, inwi; in Iroquois, onwi, 
eniha; in the Otomi of Mexico, n-aniehe; in Zapotec, 
beni; in the Maya, inic, winic, winak; — all in North 
America, and the number might be extended. 

Of these only the last mentioned can plausibly be 
traced to a radical (unless the Iroquois onwi is from 
onnha life, onnhe to live). This Father Ximenes derives 
from win, meaning to grow, to gain, to increase, 2 in 
which the analogy to vegetable life is not far off, an 
analogy strengthened by the myth of that stock, which 
relates that the first of men were formed of the flour 
of maize. 3 

i From the root ava, avw, up, upward. The derivation is as likely 
as any other offered. 

* Vocabulario Quiche, s. v., ed. Brasseur (Paris, 1862). 

3 The Eskimo innuk, man, means also a possessor or owner ; the 
yolk of an egg ; and the pus of an abscess (Egede, Nachrichten von 
Grb'nland, p. 106). From it is derived inn uicok, to live, life. Prob- 
ably innuk also means the semen masculinum, and in its identifica- 



ALL-MOTHER EARTH. 



261 



In many other instances religious legend carries out 
this idea. The mythical ancestor of the Caribs created 
his offspring by sowing the soil with stones or with the 
fruit of the Mauritius palm, which sprouted forth into 
men and women, 1 while the Yurucares clothed this 
crude tenet in a somewhat more poetic form, fabling 
that at the beginning the first of men were pegged, 
Ariel-like, in the knotty entrails of an enormous bole, 
until the god Tiri — a second Prospero— released them 
by cleaving it in twain. 2 

As in oriental legends the origin of man from the 
earth was veiled under the story that he was the pro- 
geny of some mountain fecundated by the embrace of 
Mithras or Jupiter, so the Indians often pointed to 
some height or some cavern, as the spot whence the 
first of men issued, adult and armed, from the womb 
of the All-mother Earth. The oldest name of the 
Alleghany Mountains is Paemotinck or Pemolnick, an 
Algonkin word, the meaning of which is said to be 
" the origin of the Indians. " 3 

tion with pus, may not there be the solution of that strange riddle 
which in so many myths of the West Indies and Central America 
makes the first of men to be "the purulent one?" (See ante, p. 
158.) In the Chipeway dialect the verb miniw means "I have a 
running sore," and "I beget." ( Baraga, Otchipwe Diet.) 

1 Miiller, Amer. Urrelig., pp. 109, 229. 

2 D'Orbigny, Frag, d'une Voy. dans V Amer. Merid., p. 512. It 
is still a mooted point whence Shakespeare drew the plot of The 
Tempest. The coincidence mentioned in the text between some 
parts of it and South American mythology does not stand alone. 
Caliban, the savage and brutish native of the island, is undoubtedly 
the word Carib, often spelt Caribani, and Calibani in older writers ; 
and his " dam's god Setebos" was the supreme divinity of the 
Patagonians when first visited by Magellan. (Pigafetta, Viaggio 
intorno al Ghbo, Germ. Trans.: Gotha, 1801, p. 217.) 

3 Both Lederer and John Bartram assign it this meaning. Gal- 



262 



THE ORIGIN OF MAN. 



The Witchitas, who dwelt on the Red River among 
the mountains named after them, have a tradition that 
their progenitors issued from the rocks about their 
homes, 1 the Blackfoot legends point for the origin of 
their class to Nina Stahu, " chief of mountains," a 
bold, square-topped peak of the Rocky Mountains 
near Lake Omaxeen, and many other tribes, the Tah- 
kalis, Navajos, Coyoteros, and the Haitians, for instance, 
set up this claim to be autochthones. 

Most writers have interpreted this simply to mean 
that they knew nothing at all about their origin, or 
that they coined these fables merely to strengthen the 
title to the territory they inhabited when they saw the 
whites eagerly snatching it away on every pretext. No 
doubt there is some truth in this, but if they be care- 
fully sifted, there is sometimes a deep psychological 
significance in these myths, which has hitherto escaped 
the observation of students. An instance presents itself 
in our own country. 

All those tribes, the Creeks, Seminoles, Choctaws, 
Chicasaws, and Natchez, who, according to tradition, 
were in remote times banded into one common con- 
federacy under the headship of the last mentioned, 
unanimously located their earliest ancestry near an 
artificial eminence in the valley of the Big Black River, 
in the Natchez country, whence they pretended to have 
emerged. 

latin gives in the Powhatan dialect the word for mountain as 
pomottinke, doubtless another form of the same. This curious rela- 
tionship is beautifully illustrated in the Lenape dialect. In it, pern- 
auchsoheen, is "to cause to live ;" pemhakamik, the earth ; pemhaka- 
mixit, all living creatures ; pemhakamixitschik, mankind. Brinton 
and Anthony, Lendpe-English Dictionary, p. 112. 
1 Marcy, Exploration of the Red River, p. 69. 



HOLY HILLS. 



263 



Fortunately we have a description, though a brief 
one, of this interesting monument from the pen of an 
intelligent traveller. It is described as " an elevation 
of earth about half a mile square and fifteen or twenty 
feet high. From its northeast corner a wall of equal 
height extends for near half a mile to the high land." 

This was the Nunne Chaha or Nunne Hamgeh, the 
High Hill, or the Bending Hill, famous in Choctaw 
stories, and which Captain Gregg found they have not 
yet forgotten in their western home. The legend was 
that in its centre was a cave, the house of the Master 
of Breath. Here he made the first men from the clay 
around him, and as at that time the waters covered the 
earth, he raised the wall to dry them on. When the 
soft mud had hardened into elastic flesh and firm bone, 
he banished the waters to their channels and beds, and 
gave the dry land to his creatures. 1 The Muskokis call 
this mountain " King of Mountains," or " King of the 
Land," rvne em mekko. 

It is at first sight astonishing with what uniformity 
the traditional lore of tribes widely sundered in North 
and South America repeat the story of the early men 
climbing up from the underworld; with what almost 
monotony their religions refer to the earth as the mother 
of living creatures as well as of the vegetable kingdom. 
But the explanation which would cite these similarities 
as examples of u borrowing," or of the " diffusion of 
myths," is not merely without historic support, but 
misses in this study the most precious fruit it brings to 
the science of man — the proof of his psychological unity, 

1 Compare Romans, Hist, of Florida, pp. f 8, 71 ; Adair, Hist, of 
the North Am. Indians, p. 195 ; and Gregg, Commerce of the Prairies, 
ii. p. 235. The description of the mound is by Major Heart, in 
the Trans, of the Am. Philos. Soc, iii. p. 216. 



264 



THE ORIGIN OF MAN 



It is easy to multiply examples. We may turn, for 
instance, to the legends of the Iroquois of the north. 
They with one consent, if we may credit the account 
of Cusic, looked to a mountain near the falls of the 
Oswego River in the State of New York, as the locality 
where their forefathers first saw the light of day, and 
that they had some such legend the name Oneida, peo- 
ple of the Stone, would seem to testify. 

The cave of Pacari Tampu, the Lodgings of the 
Dawn, was five leagues distant from Cuzco, surrounded 
by a sacred grove and inclosed with temples of great 
antiquity. From its hallowed recesses the mythical 
civilizers of Peru, the first of men, emerged, and in it 
during the time of the flood, the remnants of the race 
escaped the fury of the waves. 1 Viracocha himself is 
said to have dwelt there, though it hardly needed this 
evidence to render it certain that this consecrated 
cavern is but a localization of the general myth of the 
dawn rising from the deep. It refers us for its proto- 
type to the Aymara allegory of the morning light fling- 
ing its beams like snow-white foam athwart the waves 
of Lake Titicaca. 

An ancient legend of the Aztecs derived their nation 
from a place called Chicomoztoc, the Seven Caverns, 
located north of Mexico. Antiquaries have indulged 
in all sorts of speculations as to what this means. 
Sahagun explains it as a valley so named ; Clavigero 
supposes it to have been a city ; Hamilton Smith, and 
after him Schoolcraft, construed caverns to be a figure 
of speech for the boats in which the early Americans 
paddled across from Asia (!) ; the Abbe Brasseur con- 
founds it with Aztlan, and very many have discovered 



1 Balboa, Hist du Perm, p. 4. 



HOLY CAVES, 



265 



in it a distinct reference to the fabulous " seven cities of 
Cibola " and the Casas Grandes, ruins of large build- 
ings of unburnt brick in the valley of the River Gila. 
From this story arose the supposed sevenfold division 
of the Nahuas, a division which never existed except 
in the imagination of Europeans. 

When Torquemada adds that seven hero gods ruled 
in Chicomoztoc and were the progenitors of all its 
inhabitants, when one of them turns out to be Xelhua, 
the giant who with six others escaped the flood by 
ascending the mountain of Tlaloc in the terrestrial 
paradise and afterwards built the pyramid of Cholula, 
and when we remember that in one of the flood-myths 
seven persons were said to have escaped the waters, the 
whole narrative acquires a fabulous aspect that shuts it 
out from history, and brands it as one of those fictions 
of the origin of man from the earth so common to the 
race. 

Fictions yet truths ; for caverns and hollow trees 
were in fact the houses and temples of our first parents, 
and from them they went forth to conquer and adorn 
the world ; and from the inorganic constituents of the 
soil acted on by Light, touched by Divine Force, vivi- 
fied by the Spirit, did in reality the first of men proceed. 

This cavern, which thus dimly lingered in the 
memories of nations, frequently expanded to a nether 
world, imagined to underlie this of ours, and still 
inhabited by beings of our kind, who have never been 
lucky enough to discover its exit. 

According to a myth extensively disseminated among 
the Caribs, Arawacks, Warraus, Carayas and other 
South American tribes, in the beginning of things sky 
and earth were as one, and man abode within the earth 
in a joyous realm, where death and disease were un- 



266 



TEE ORIGIN OF MAN. 



known, and even the trees never rotted but lived on 
forever. One day the ruler of that happy realm walk- 
ing forth discovered the surface of the world as we 
know it, but returning warned his people that though 
sunlight was there, so also were decay and death. 
Some, however, went thither, and the present unhappy 
race of men are their descendants, while others still 
dwell in gladness far below. 1 

The Mandans and Minnetarees on the Missouri River 
supposed this exit was near a certain hill in their terri- 
tory, and as it had been, as it were, the womb of the 
earth, the same power was attributed to it that in 
ancient times endowed certain shrines with such 
charms ; and thither the barren wives of their nation 
made frequent pilgrimages when they would become 
mothers. 2 

The Mandans added the somewhat puerile fable that 
the means of ascent had been a grapevine, by which 
many ascended and descended, until one day an im- 
moderately fat old lady, anxious to get a look at the 
upper earth, broke it with her weight, and prevented 
any further communication. Yet even this detail re- 
curs with precise parallelism in the legends of the 
Warraus, who live a semi-aquatic life at the mouths 
of the Orinoco. 3 

Such tales of an under-world are very frequent 
among the Indians, and are a very natural outgrowth 
of the literal belief that the race is earth-born. 

Man is indeed like the grass that springs up and soon 
withers away; but he is also more than this. The 

1 Ehrenreich, Die Karayastamme, p. 39. 

2 Long's Expedition to the Rocky Mountains, i. p. 274 ; Catlin's 
Letters, i. p. 178. 

3 Im Thurn, Indians of Guiana, p. 377. 



SON OF THE GODS. 



267 



quintessence of dust, he is a son of the gods as well as 
a son of the soil. He is a direct product of the great 
creative power ; therefore the Northwest Coast Indians 
and the Athapascan tribes west of the Rocky Moun- 
tains — the Kenai, the Kolushes, and the Atnai — claim 
descent from a raven — from that same mighty cloud- 
bird, Yetl, already referred to, who in the beginning of 
things seized the elements and brought the world from 
the abyss of the primitive ocean. 

The Athabascans, situate more eastwardly, the Dog- 
ribs, the Chepewyans, the Hare Indians, and also the 
west coast Eskimos, and the natives of the Aleutian 
Isles, all believe that they have sprung from a dog. 1 
The latter animal, we have already seen, both in the 
old and new world was the fixed symbol of the water 
goddess. Therefore in these myths, which are found 
over so many thousand square leagues, we cannot be 
in error in perceiving a reflex of their cosmogonical 
traditions already discussed, in which from the winds 
and the waters, represented here under their emblems 
of the bird and the dog, all animate life proceeded. 

Without this symbolic coloring, a tribe to the south 
of them, a band of the Minnetarees, had the crude tra- 
dition that their first progenitor emerged from the 
waters, bearing in his hand an ear of maize, 2 very much 
as Viracocha and his companions rose from the sacred 
waves of Lake Titicaca, or as the Moxos imagined that 
they were descended from the lakes and river on whose 
banks their villages were situated. 

These myths, and many others, hint of general con- 

1 Bichardson, Arctic Expedition, pp. 239, 247. It takes the place 
of the coyote in the myths of California. Stephen Powers, Indians 
of California, cites many. 

2 Long, Exped to the Rocky Mountains, i. p. 326. 



268 



THE ORIGIN OF MAN 



ceptions of life and the world, wide-spread theories of 
things, such as we are not accustomed to expect among 
savage nations, such as may very excusably excite a 
doubt as to their native origin, but a doubt infallibly 
dispelled by a careful comparison of the best authorities. 
Is it that hitherto, in the pride of intellectual culture, we 
have never done justice to the thinking faculties of 
those whom we call barbarians ? Or shall we accept the 
alternative, that these are the unappreciated heirlooms 
bequeathed a rude race by a period of higher civiliza- 
tion, long since extinguished by constant wars and 
ceaseless fear? Or that they have been passed from 
hand to hand to America from the famed and ancient 
centres of civilization in Asia and Egypt ?* 

With almost unanimous consent the latter has been 
accepted as the true solution, but rather from the pre- 
conceived theory of a state of primitive civilization from 
which man fell, than from ascertained facts. Let us 
rather prefer that explanation which has been previously 
urged in these pages, that the faculties of the races of 
men differ little, that in dealing with the problems of 
the unknown their resources were limited, and that 
often they reached the same conceptions about it, and 
embodied them under the same or similar figures of 
speech, myths and stories. 

1 I believe that most students who have long and deeply studied 
the psychology of the American aborigines of almost any tribe will 
agree with these words of H. K. Schoolcraft : — " There is a subtlety 
in some of their modes of thought and belief on life and the ex- 
istence of spiritual and creative power, which would seem to have 
been eliminated from some intellectual crucible without the limits 
of their present sphere " (Oneota, p. 131). It is difficult for the civ- 
ilized man to concede equal intellectual faculties to those whom he 
knows are beneath him in acquirements, so that it at first requires 
an effort to accept this statement. 



THE COYOTE. 



269 



It would, perhaps, be pushing symbolism too far to 
explain as an emblem of the primitive waters the 
coyote, which, according to the Root-Diggers of Cali- 
fornia, brought their ancestors into the world ; or to 
the wolf, which the Lenni Lenape pretended released 
mankind from the dark bowels of the earth by scratch- 
ing away the soil. They should rather be interpreted 
by the curious custom of the Tonka ways, a wild people 
in Texas, of predatory and unruly disposition. They 
celebrate their origin by a grand annual dance. One 
of them, naked as he was born, is buried in the earth. 
The others, clothed in wolf skins, walk over him, snuff 
around him, howl in lupine style, and finally dig him 
up with their nails. The leading wolf then solemnly 
places a bow and arrow in his hands, and to his in- 
quiry as to what he must do for a living, paternally 
advises him " to do as the wolves do — rob, kill, and 
murder, rove from place to place, and never cultivate 
the soil." 1 Most wise and fatherly counsel ! 

But what is there new under the sun ? Three thou- 
sand years ago the Hirpini, or Wolves, an ancient 
Sabine tribe, were wont to collect on Mount Soracte, 
and there go through certain rites in memory of an 
oracle which predicted their extinction when they 
ceased to gain their living as wolves by violence and 
plunder. Therefore they dressed in wolf-skins, ran 
with barks and howls over burning coals, and gnawed 
wolfishly whatever they could seize. 2 

Though hasty writers have often said that the Indian 
tribes claim literal descent from different wild beasts, 
probably in many instances, as in these, this will prove, 

1 Schoolcraft, Ind. Tribes, v. p. 683. 

2 Schwarz, Ursprung der Mythologie, 121 ; F. Granger, The 
Worship of the Romans, p. 112. 



270 



THE ORIGIN OF MAN. 



on examination, to be an error resting on a misappre- 
hension arising from the habit of the natives of adopt- 
ing as their totem or clan-mark the figure and name of 
some animal, or else, in an ignorance of the animate 
symbols employed with such marked preference by the 
red race, to express abstract ideas. The totemic animal 
is, to the native mind, by no means identical in traits 
with a member of the existing species. 

In some cases, doubtless, the natives themselves 
came, in time, to confound the symbol with the idea, 
by that familiar process of personification and conse- 
quent debasement exemplified in the history of every 
religion ; but I do not believe that a single example 
could be found where an Indian tribe had a tradition 
whose real purport was that man came by natural 
process of descent from an ancestor, a brute, regarded 
merely as such. 

The reflecting mind will not be offended at the con- 
tradictions in these different myths, for a myth is, in 
one sense, a theory of natural phenomena expressed 
in the form of a narrative. Often several explanations 
seem equally satisfactory for the same fact, and the 
mind hesitates to choose, and rather accepts them all 
than rejects any. Then, again, an expression current 
as a metaphor by-and-by crystallizes into a dogma, 
and becomes the nucleus of a new mythological growth. 
These are familiar processes to one versed in such 
studies, and involve no logical contradiction, because 
they are never required to be reconciled. 



IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



271 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE SOUL AND ITS DESTINY. 

Universality of the belief in a soul and a future state shown by 
the aboriginal tongues, by expressed opinions, and by sepulchral 
rites. — The seat of the soul. — The "name soul." — The future 
world never a place of rewards and punishments. — The house of 
the Sun the heaven of the red man. — The terrestrial paradise 
and the under- world. — Cupay. — Xibalba. — Mictlan. — Metem- 
psychosis. — Preservation of Bones. — Mummies. — Belief in a 
resurrection of the dead almost universal. 

fPHE missionary Charlevoix wrote several excellent 
works on America toward the beginning of the 
last century, and he is often quoted by later authors ; 
but probably no one of his sayings has been thus 
honored more frequently than this : " The belief the 
best established among our Americans is that of the 
immortality of the soul." 1 His statement is em- 
phatically supported by the expression of one of the 
acutest living students of American aboriginal thought 
when he says of the Indian : "He knows he will not 
die." 2 

The tremendous stake that every one of us has on 
the truth of this dogma makes it quite a satisfaction to 
be persuaded that no man is willing to live wholly 
without it. Certainly exceptions are very rare, and 
most of those which materialistic philosophers have 

1 Journal Historique, p. 351 (Paris, 1740). 

2 Von den Steinen, Naturvolker Zentral-Braziliens, p. 348. 



272 



THE SOUL AND ITS DESTINY. 



taken such pains to collect, rest on misunderstandings 
or superficial observation. 

In the New World I know of only one well authenti- 
cated instance where the notion of a future state appears 
to have been entirely wanting, and this in quite a small 
clan, the Lower Pend d'Oreilles, of Oregon. This peo- 
ple had no burial ceremonies, no notion of a life here- 
after, no word for soul, spiritual existence, or vital 
principle. They thought that when they died, that was 
the last of them. The Catholic missionaries who under- 
took the unpromising task of converting them to Chris- 
tianity, were at first obliged to depend upon the imper- 
fect translations of half-breed interpreters. These 
" made the idea of soul intelligible to their hearers by 
telling them they had a gut which never rotted, and 
that this was their living principle!" Yet even they 
were not destitute of religious notions. No tribe was 
more addicted to the observance of charms, omens, 
dreams, and guardian spirits, and they believed that ill- 
ness and bad luck generally were the effects of the anger 
of a fabulous old woman. 1 

The aborigines of the Californian peninsula were as 
near beasts as men ever become. The missionaries 
likened them to "herds of swine, who neither wor- 
shipped the true and only God, nor adored false deities." 
Yet they must have had some vague notion of an after- 
world, for the writer who paints the darkest picture of 
their condition remarks, "I saw them frequently putting 
shoes on the feet of the dead, which seems to indicate 
that they entertain the idea of a journey after death." 2 

1 Rep. of the Commissioner of Ind. Affairs, 1854, pp. 211, 212. The 
old woman is once more a personification of the water and the 
moon. 

2 Bsegert, Acc. of the Aborig. Tribes of the Californian Peninsula, 



WOBDS FOB SOUL. 



273 



Proof of Charlevoix's opinion may be derived from 
three independent sources. The aboriginal languages 
may be examined for terms corresponding to the word 
soul ; the opinions of the Indians themselves may be 
quoted; and the significance of sepulchral rites as 
indicative of a belief in life after death may be deter- 
mined. 

The most satisfactory is the first of these. We call 
the soul a ghost or spirit, and often a shade. In these 
words the breath and the shadow are the sensuous per- 
ceptions transferred to represent the immaterial object 
of our thought. Why the former was chosen I have 
already explained ; and for the latter, that it is man's 
intangible image, his constant companion, and is of a 
nature akin to darkness, earth, and night, are suffi- 
ciently obvious reasons. 

These same tropes recur in American languages in 
the same connection. The New England tribes called 
the soul chemung, the shadow, and in Quiche natub, in 
Eskimo tarnak, in Dakota nagi express both these ideas. 
In Mohawk atonritz, the soul, is from atonrion, to breathe, 
and other examples to the same purpose have already 
been given. 1 

translated by Chas. Kau, in Ann. Eep. Smithson. Inst., 1866, p. 
387. Mr. James Mooney (Sacred Formulas of the Cherokees, p. 319) 
seems to deny that the Cherokees had any belief in a life here- 
after ; but many of their rites and expressions appear distinctly to 
imply such a faith. 

1 Of the Nicaraguans, Oviedo says : Ce n'est pas leur coeur qui 
va en haut, mais ce qui les faisait vivre ; c'est-a-dire, le souffle qui 
leur sort par la bouche, et que Ton nomme Julio " (Hist du Nica- 
ragua, p. 36). The word should be yulia, kindred with yoli, to live 
(Buschmann, Uber die Aztekischen Ortsnamen, p. 765). In the Aztec 
and cognate languages we have already seen that ehecatl means 
both wind, soul and shadow (Buschmann, Spur en der Aztek. Spr. in 

18 



274 



THE SOUL AND ITS DESTINY. 



Of course, no one need demand that a strict immate- 
riality be attached to these words. Such a colorless 
negative abstraction never existed for them, neither 
does it for us, though we delude ourselves into believ- 
ing that it does. The soul was to them the invisible 
man, material as ever, but lost to the appreciation of 
the senses. 

Nor let any one be astonished if its unity was 
doubted, and several supposed to reside in one body. 
This is nothing more than a somewhat gross form of a 
doctrine upheld by most creeds and most philosophies. 
It seems the readiest solution of certain psychological 
enigmas, and may, for aught we know, be an instinct 
of fact. The Rabbis taught a threefold division — ne- 
phesh, the animal, ruah, the human, and neshamah, the 
divine soul, which corresponds to that of Plato into 
thumos, epithumia, and nous. And even Saint Paul 
seems to have recognized such inherent plurality when 
he distinguishes between the bodily soul, the intellec- 
tual soul, and the spiritual gift, in his Epistle to the 
Romans. 

No such refinements, of course, as these are to be ex- 
pected among the red men ; but it may be looked upon 
either as the rudiments of these teachings, or as a grad- 
ual debasement of them to gross and material expres- 
sion, that an old and wide-spread notion was found 
among both Iroquois and Algonkins, that man has two 
souls, one of a vegetative character, which gives bodily 
life, and remains with the corpse after death, until it is 
called to enter another body ; another of more ethereal 
texture, which in life can depart from the body in sleep 

Nordlichen Mexico, 74). See also S. E. Riggs, Dakota Grammar, 
p. 213. 



THE MULTIPLE SOUL. 



275 



or trance, and wander over the world, and at death goes 
directly to the land of spirits. 1 

The Sioux extended it to Plato's number, and are 
said to have looked forward to one going to a cold 
place, another to a warm and comfortable country, 
while the third was to watch the body. Certainly a 
most impartial distribution of rewards and punish- 
ments. 2 Some other Dakota tribes shared their views 
on this point, but more commonly, doubtless owing to 
the sacredness of the number, imagined four souls, with 
separate destinies, one to wander about the world, one 
to watch the body, the third to hover around the vil- 
lage, and the highest to go to the spirit land. 3 

Even this number is multiplied by certain Oregon 
tribes, who imagine one in every member ; and by the 
Caribs of Martinique, who, wherever they could detect 
a pulsation, located a spirit, all subordinate, however, 
to a supreme one throned in the heart, which alone 
would be transported to the skies at death. 4 For the 
heart that so constantly sympathizes with our emotions 
and actions, is, in most languages and most nations, 
regarded as the seat of life ; and when the priests of 
bloody religions tore out the heart of the victim and 
offered it to the idol, it was an emblem of the life that 
was thus torn from the field of this world and conse- 
crated to the rulers of the next. 

In many of the native tongues the compound words 

1 Bel. de la Nouv. France, An. 1636, p. 104 ; Keating' s Narrative, 
i. pp. 232, 410. The Iroquoian concept of the double soul is care- 
fully explained by J. N. B. Hewitt, in Jour, of Amer. Folk-lore, 
1895, pp. 107, sqq. 

2 French, Hist. Colls, of Louisiana, iii. p. 26. 

3 Mrs. Eastman, Legends of the Sioux, p. 129. 

4 Voy. a la Louisiane fait en 1720, p. 155 (Paris, 1768). 



276 



THE SOUL AND ITS DESTINY. 



formed with its name indicate that various motions and 
conditions feelings were supposed to arise from its con- 
ditions. 

The seat of the soul was, however, variously located. 
The Costa Rica Indians place the powers of thought 
and memor}' in the liver ; and a Thlinkit legend relates 
that the first of all men came into being " when the 
liver came out from below," showing that this tribe also 
regarded that viscus as the seat of life. 1 Frequently 
the head was regarded as the vital member. Roger 
Williams remarks of the New England Indians : " In 
the braine theire opinion is that the soule keeps her 
chiefe seate and residence." 2 By an easy metonymy, 
exemplified in all the classical languages, the head 
represents the man, and in this meaning appears in the 
picture writing, in the usage of preserving heads and 
skulls, and in the custom of scalping which was 
encountered by the early explorers in both North and 
South America. 

Between these various souls there was a clear distinc- 
tion made by most of the aboriginal philosophers. In 
their meditations on the principle of personality, on the 
Ego, they had reached certain subtle distinctions not 
unworthy a Hegelian dialectician, and which the most 
astute of students of their thoughts fails completely to 
grasp. For example, Dr. Washington Matthews, a most 
competent scholar, in explaining this doctrine as it 
exists among the Navajos, says that the personal soul 
is neither the vital force which animates the body, nor 
yet the mental power, but a tertium quid, tl a sort of 
spiritual body," which has the uncomfortable habit of 

1 Gabb, Ind. Tribes of Costa Rica, p. 538 ; A. Krause, Die 
Thlinkit Indmner, 1885. 

2 Roger Williams, Language of America, p. 86. 



THE NAME-SOUL. 



277 



sometimes leaving its owner, or getting lost, much to 
his pain and peril. Just such an unstable ghost do the 
Chinook Indians believe belongs to every one ; and the 
recognition of it was common in North and South 
America, Among the Nahuas it bore the name tonal, 
which is probably from a root meaning (divine) knowl- 
edge, or else light. 1 

In many tribes this third soul, or " astral body," 
bore a relation to the private personal name. Among 
the Mayas and Nahuas, it was conferred or came into 
existence with the name, and for this reason the per- 
sonal name was sacred and rarely uttered. It was part 
of the individuality, and through it this capricious ele- 
ment of the I could be injured. 

What Miss Fletcher remarks of the Dakotas is true 
generally : " The personal name among Indians indi- 
cates the protecting presence of a deity, and must 
therefore partake of the ceremonial character of the 
Indian's religion." 2 From almost any part of the con- 
tinent I might choose examples to illustrate this. Let 
us go to the east coast of Greenland, among people who 
a dozen years ago had never seen or heard of a white 
man. They believe that the person consists of three 
components, his living body, his thinking faculty and 
his name (atekata). This last enters the body when the 
child is named. It survives physical death, whereas the 
body and the thinking faculty die, the first certainly, 
the latter sometimes. After the death of a person, his 
private name is not mentioned, and if it is a common 
noun, the tribe devise some other term in its place. 3 

1 Matthews in Aimer. Anthropologist, May, 1888 ; Boas, in Jour. 
Amer. Folk-lore, March, 1893; Brinton, Nagualism, p. 11. 

2 Hep. Peabody Museum, 1884. 

3 Holm, Com. sur. le Gronland, p. 373. 



278 



THE SOUL AND ITS DESTINY. 



In many of the invocations of the Shamans, we find 
the object to be the recovery or restitution to the indi- 
vidual of this soul, or, as Dr. Rink says of the Eskimo 
angekoks, the " repairing the soul." Father de laSerna 
cites a long prayer for this special purpose and Dr. 
Matthews gives another. It is through their malevolent 
influence on this that the evil spirits and unfriendly 
sorcerers cast sickness or misfortune upon one, and they 
can go so far as to capture this soul or drive it away ; 
wicked intentions, to be counteracted by the more 
potent spells of the friendly shaman summoned for the 
purpose. 1 

Various motives impel the living to treat with respect 
the body from which life has departed. Lowest of 
them is a superstitious dread of death and the dead. 
The stoicism of the Indian, especially the northern 
tribes, in the face of death, has often been the topic of 
poets, and has been interpreted to be a fearlessness 
of that event. This is by no means true. Savages 
have an awful horror of death ; it is to them the 
worst of ills ; and for this very reason was it that they 
thought to meet it without flinching was the highest 
proof of courage. 

Everything connected with the deceased was, in 
many tribes, shunned with superstitious terror. His 
name was not mentioned, his property left untouched, 
all reference to him was sedulously avoided. A Tupi 
tribe used to hurry the body at once to the nearest 
water, and toss it in ; the Akanzas left it in the lodge 
and burned over it the dwelling and contents ; and the 

1 Serna, Manual de Ministros, p. 223 ; Matthews, ubi supra. The 
mystical relations of Indian personal names has been discussed by 
many writers, as Garrick Mallery (Picto graphs), J. G. Bourke, J. 
W. Powell, F. Boas, etc. Also Kink, Tales of the Eskimo, p. 60. 



BURIAL CUSTOMS. 



279 



Algonkins carried it forth by a hole cut opposite the 
door, and beat the walls with sticks to fright away the 
lingering ghost. Burying places were always avoided, 
and every means taken to prevent the departed spirits 
exercising a malicious influence on those remaining 
behind. 

These craven fears do but reveal the natural repug- 
nance of the animal to a cessation of existence, and 
arise from the instinct of self-preservation essential to 
organic life. Other rites, undertaken avowedly for the 
behoof of the soul, prove and illustrate a simple but 
unshaken faith in its continued existence after the 
decay of the body. 

None of these is more common or more natural than 
that which attributes to the emancipated spirit the 
same wants that it felt while on earth, and with loving 
foresight provides for their satisfaction. Clothing and 
utensils of war and the chase were, in ancient times, 
uniformly placed by the body, under the impression 
that they would be of service to the departed in his 
new home. Some few tribes in the far west still retain 
the custom, but most were soon ridiculed into its 
neglect, or were forced to omit it by the violation of 
tombs practised by depraved whites in hope of gain. 

To these harmless offerings the northern tribes often 
added a dog slain on the grave ; and doubtless the skele- 
tons of these animals in so many tombs in Mexico and 
Peru point to similar customs there. It had no deeper 
meaning than to give a companion to the spirit in its 
long and lonesome journey to the far off land of shades. 
The peculiar appropriateness of the dog arose not only 
from the guardianship it exerts during life, but further 
from the symbolic signification it so often had as rep- 
resentative of the goddess of night and the grave. 



280 



THE SOUL AND ITS DESTINY. 



Where a despotic form of government reduced the 
subject almost to the level of a slave and elevated the 
ruler almost to that of a superior being, not animals 
only, but men, women and children were frequently 
immolated at the tomb of the cacique. 

The territory embraced in our own country was not 
without examples of this sad custom. On the lower 
Mississippi the Natchez Indians practised it in all its 
ghastliness. When a sun or chief died, one or several 
of his wives and his highest officers were knocked on 
the head and buried with him, and at such times the 
barbarous privilege was allowed to any of the lowest 
caste to at once gain admittance to the highest by the de- 
liberate murder of their own children on the funeral pyre 
— a privilege of which respectable writers tell us human 
beings were found base enough to take advantage. 1 

Oviedo relates that in the province of Guataro, in 
Guatemala, an actual rivalry prevailed among the peo- 
ple to be slain at the death of their cacique, for they 
had been taught that only such as went with him 
would ever find their way to the paradise of the 
departed. 2 Theirs was therefore somewhat of a selfish 
motive, and only in certain parts of Peru, where polyg- 
amy prevailed, and the rule was that only one wife 
was to be sacrificed, does the deportment of husbands 
seem to have been so creditable that their widows 
actually disputed one with another for the pleasure of 
being buried alive with the dead body, and bearing 
their spouse company to the other world. 3 Wives who 

1 Dupratz, Hist, of Louisiana, ii. p. 219 ; Dumont, Mems. 
Hist, sur la Louisiane, i. chap. 26. 

2 Bel. de la Prov. de Cueba, p. 140. 

3 Coreal, Voiages aux Indes Occidentales, ii. p. 94 (Amsterdam, 
1722). 



JOURNEY OF THE SOUL. 



281 



have found few parallels since the famous matron of 
Ephesus ! 

The fire built nightly on the grave was to light the 
spirit on his journey. By a coincidence to be explained 
by the universal sacredness of the number, both Al- 
gonkins and Mexicans maintained it for four nights 
consecutively. The former related the tradition that 
one of their ancestors returned from the spirit land 
and informed their nation that the journey thither 
consumed just four days, and that collecting fuel every 
night added much to the toil and fatigue the soul 
encountered, all of which could be spared it by the 
relatives kindling nightly a fire on the grave. Or as 
Longfellow has told it : 

" Four days is the spirit's journey 
To the land of ghosts and shadows, 
Four its lonely night encampments. 
Therefore when the dead are buried, 
Let a fire as night approaches 
Four times on the grave be kindled, 
That the soul upon its journey 
May not grope about in darkness." 

The same length of time, say the Navajos, does the 
departed soul wander over a gloomy marsh ere it can 
discover the ladder leading to the world below, where 
are the homes of the setting and the rising sun, a land 
of luxuriant plenty, stocked with game and covered 
with corn. To that land, say they, sink all lost seeds 
and germs which fall on the earth and do not sprout. 
There below they take root, bud, and ripen their fruit. 1 
The Nahuas held that the journey of the soul lasted 
four years before it reached its final resting-place. 2 

1 Senate Rep. on the Indian Tribes, p. 358 (Wash. 1867). 

2 Codex Telleriano-Remensis. 



282 



THE SOUL AND ITS DESTINY. 



After four days, once more, in the superstitions of the 
Greenland Eskimos, does the soul, for that term after 
death confined in the body, at last break from its prison- 
house and either rise in the sky to dance in the aurora 
borealis or descend into the pleasant land beneath the 
earth, according to the manner of death. 1 

That there are logical contradictions in this belief and 
these ceremonies, that the fire is always in the same 
spot, that the weapons and utensils are not carried away 
by the departed, and that the food placed for his suste- 
nance remains untouched, is very true. But those who 
would therefore argue that they were not intended for 
the benefit of the soul, and seek some more recondite 
meaning in them as " unconscious emblems of strug- 
gling faith or expressions of inward emotions," 2 are led 
astray by the very simplicity of their real intention. 
Where is the faith, where the science, that does not 
involve logical contradictions just as gross as these? 
They are tolerable to us merely because we are used to 
them. What value has the evidence of the senses any- 
where against a religious faith? None whatever. A 
stumbling block though this be to the materialist, it is 
the universal truth, and as such it is well to accept it 
as an experimental fact. 

The preconceived opinions that saw in the meteor- 
ological myths of the Indian a conflict between the 
Spirit of Good and the Spirit of Evil, have with like 
unconscious error falsified his doctrine of a future life, 
and almost without an exception drawn it more or less 
in the likeness of the Christian heaven, hell, and pur- 
gatory. Very faint traces of any such belief except 

1 Egede, Nachrichten von Gronland, p. 145. 

2 Alger, Hist of the Doctrine of a Future Life, p. 76. 



NO PLACE OF TORMENT. 



283 



where derived from the missionaries are visible in the 
New World. Nowhere was any well-defined doctrine 
that moral turpitude was judged and punished in the 
next world. No contrast is discoverable between a 
place of torments and a realm of joy; at the worst 
but a negative castigation awaited the liar, the coward, 
or the niggard. 

The typical belief of the tribes of the United States 
was well expressed in the reply of Esau Hajo, great 
medal chief and speaker for the Creek nation in the Na- 
tional Council, to the question, Do the red people believe 
in a future state of rewards and punishments ? " We 
have an opinion that those who have behaved well are 
taken under the care of Esaugetuh Emissee, and as- 
sisted ; and that those who have behaved ill are left to 
shift for themselves ; and that there is no other pun- 
ishment." 1 

Neither the delights of a heaven on the one hand, 
nor the terrors of a hell on the other, were ever held 
out by priests or sages as an incentive to well-doing, 
or a warning to the evil-disposed. Different fates, in- 
deed, awaited the departed souls, but these rarely, if 
ever, were decided by their conduct while in the flesh, 
but by the manner of death, the punctuality with which 
certain sepulchral rites were fulfilled by relatives, or 
other similar arbitrary circumstance beyond the power 
of the individual to control. 

This view, which I am aware is at variance with that 
of all previous writers, may be shown to be that natu- 
ral to the uncultivated intellect everywhere, and the 
real interpretation of the creeds of America. 2 Whether 

1 Hawkins, Sketch of the Creek Country, p. 80. 

2 These words of the first edition I retain, although now the 



284 



THE SOUL AND ITS DESTINY. 



these arbitrary circumstances „,were not construed to 
signify the decision of the Divine Mind on the life of 
the man, is a deeper question, which there is no means 
at hand to solve. 

Those who have complained of the hopeless confu- 
sion of American religions have but proven the insuffi- 
ciency of their own means of analyzing them. The 
uniformity which they display in so many points is 
nowhere more fully illustrated than in the unanimity 
with which they all point to the sun as the land of the 
happy souls, the realm of the blessed, the scene of the 
joyous hunting-grounds of the hereafter. 

Its perennial glory, its comfortable warmth, its daily 
analogy to the life of man, marked its abode as the 
pleasantest spot in the universe. It matters not whether 
the eastern Algonkins pointed to the south, others of 
their nation, with the Iroquois and Creeks, to the west, 
or many tribes to the east, as the direction taken by 
the spirit ; all these myths but mean that its bourn is 
the home of the sun, which is perhaps in the Orient 
whence he comes forth, in the Occident where he makes 
his bed, or in the south whither he retires in the chill- 
ing winter. 

Where the sun lives, they informed the earliest for- 
eign visitors, were the villages of the deceased, and the 
milky way which nightly spans the arch of heaven, 
was, in their opinion, the road that led thither, and was 
called the path of souls (le chemin des ames). 1 To hueyu 
Jcu, the mansion of the sun, said the Caribs, the soul 
passes when death overtakes the body. 2 To the warm 

opinion of the text is that of many scholars who have carefully 
studied the subject. 

1 Bel. de la Nouv. France, 1634, pp. 17, 18. 

2 Miiller, Amer. Urreligionen, p. 229. 



THE NATIVE NIRVANA. 



285 



southwest, whence blows the wind which brings the 
sunny days and the ripening corn, said the New Eng- 
land natives to Roger Williams, will all souls go. 1 

Our knowledge is scanty of the doctrines taught by 
the Incas concerning the soul, but this much we do 
know, that they looked to the sun, their recognized 
lord and protector, as he who would care for them at 
death, and admit them to his palaces. There — not in- 
deed, exquisite joys — but a life of unruffled placidity, 
void of labor, vacant of strong emotions, a sort of ma- 
terial Nirvana, awaited them. 2 For these reasons, they, 
with most other American nations, interred the corpse 
lying east and west, and not as the traveller Meyen has 
suggested, 3 from the reminiscences of some ancient mi- 
gration. 

Beyond the Cordilleras, quite to the coast of Brazil, 
the innumerable hordes who wandered through the 
sombre tropical forests of that immense territory, also 
pointed to the west, to the region beyond the moun- 
tains, as the land where the souls of their ancestors 
lived in undisturbed serenity ; or, in the more brilliant 
imaginations of the later generations, in a state of per- 
ennial inebriety, surrounded by infinite casks of rum, 
and with no white man to dole it out to them.* 

The natives of the extreme south, of the Pampas 
and Patagonia, suppose the stars are the souls of the 
departed. At night they wander about the sky, but 
the moment the sun rises they hasten to the cheerful 
light, and are seen no more until it disappears in the 

1 Language of America, p. 148. 

2 La Vega, Hist, des Incas, lib. ii. cap. 7. 

3 Ueber die Ureinwohner von Peru, p. 41. 

4 Co real, Voy. aux Indes Occident. , i. p. 224 ; Muller, Amer. Ur- 
relig., p. 289. 



286 



THE SOUL AND ITS DESTINY. 



west. So the Eskimo of the distant north, in the long 
winter nights, when the aurora bridges the sky with its 
changing hues and arrowy shafts of light, believes he 
sees the spirits of his ancestors clothed in celestial rai- 
ment, disporting themselves in the absence of the sun, 
and calls the phenomenon the dance of the dead. 

The home of the sun was the heaven of the red man ; 
but to this joyous abode not every one without distinc- 
tion, no miscellaneous crowd, could gain admittance. 
The conditions were as various as the national temper- 
aments. As the fierce gods of the Northmen would 
admit no soul to the banquets of Walhalla but such 
as had met the " spear-death " in the bloody play of 
war, and shut out pitilessly all those who feebly 
breathed their last in the " straw-death ' ' on the couch 
of sickness, so the warlike Aztec race in Nicaragua held 
that the shades of those who died in their beds went 
downward and to naught ; but of those who fell in 
battle for their country to the east, " to the place whence 
comes the sun." 1 

In ancient Mexico not only the warriors who were 
thus sacrificed on the altar of their country, but with 
a delicate and poetical sense of justice that speaks well 
for the refinement of the race, also those women who 
perished in child-birth, were admitted to the home of 
the sun. For are not they also heroines in the battle 
of life ? Are they not also its victims ? And do they 
not lay down their lives for country and kindred ? 

Every morning, it was imagined, the heroes came 
forth in battle array, and with shout and song and the 
ring of weapons, accompanied the sun to the zenith, 
where at every noon the souls of the mothers, the 



1 Oviedo, Hist, de Nicaragua, p. 22. 



THE PARADISE. 



287 



Cihuapipilti, received him with dances, music, and 
flowers, and bore him company to his western couch. 1 
Except these, none — unless it may be the victims sac- 
rificed to the gods, and this is doubtful — was deemed 
worthy of the highest heaven. 

A mild and unwarlike tribe of Guatemala, on the 
other hand, were persuaded that to die by any other 
than a natural death was to forfeit all hope of life 
hereafter, and therefore left the bodies of the slain to 
the beasts and vultures. 

The Mexicans had another place of happiness for 
departed souls, not promising perpetual life as the 
home of the sun, but unalloyed pleasure for a certain 
term of years. This was Tlalocan, the realm of the 
god of rains and waters, the terrestrial paradise, 
whence flowed all the rivers of the earth, and all the 
nourishment of the race. The diseases of which per- 
sons died marked this destination. Such as were 
drowned, or struck by lightning, or succumbed to 
humoral complaints, as dropsies and leprosy, were by 
these tokens known to be chosen as the subjects of 
• Tlaloc. 

To such, said the natives, " death is the commence- 
ment of another life, it is as waking from a dream, and 
the soul is no more human but divine (teotl)." There- 
fore they addressed their dying in terms like these: 
" Sir, or lady, awake, awake ; already does the dawn 
appear; even now is the light approaching; already 
do the birds of yellow plumage begin their songs to 
greet thee ; already are the gayly-tinted butterflies flit- 
ting around thee." 5 

1 Torquemada, Monarquia Indiana, lib. vi. cap. 27. 

2 Sahagun, Hist, de la Nueva Espafia, lib. x. cap. 29. 



288 



THE SOUL AND ITS DESTINY. 



Before proceeding to the more gloomy portion of 
the subject, to the destiny of those souls who were not 
chosen for the better part, I must advert to a curious 
coincidence in the religious reveries of many nations 
which finds its explanation in the belief that the house 
of the sun is the home of the blessed, and proves that 
this was the first conception of most natural religions. 

It is seen in the events and obstacles of the journey 
to the happy land. We everywhere hear of a water 
which the soul must cross, and an opponent, either a 
dog or an evil spirit, which it has to contend with. We 
are all familiar with the dog Cerberus (called by Homer 
simply " the dog "), which disputed the passage of the 
river Styx, over which the souls must cross ; and with 
the custom of the vikings, to be buried in a boat so 
that they might cross the waters of Ginunga-gap to the 
inviting strands of Godheim. 

Relics of this belief are found in the Koran which 
describes the bridge el Sirat, thin as a hair and sharp as 
a scimitar, stretched in a single span from heaven to 
earth ; in the Persian legend, where the rainbow arch 
Chinevad is flung across the gloomy depths between 
this world and the home of the happy ; and even in the 
current Christian allegory which represents the waters 
of the mythical Jordan rolling between us and the 
Celestial City. 

How strange at first sight does it seem that the 
Hurons and Iroquois should have told the earliest mis- 
sionaries that after death the soul must cross a deep 
and swift river on a bridge formed by a single slender 
tree most lightly supported, where it had to defend 
itself against the attacks of a dog ?* If only they had 



1 Bel. de la Nouv. France, 1636, p. 105. 



JOURNEY OF THE SOUL. 



289 



expressed this belief, it might have passed for a coinci- 
dence merely. But the Athapascas (Chepewyans) also 
told of a great water, which the soul must cross in a 
stone canoe ; the Algonkins and Dakotas, of a stream 
bridged by an enormous snake, or a narrow and preci- 
pitous rock, and the Araucanians of Chili of a sea in 
the west, in crossing which the soul was required to pay 
toll to a malicious old woman. Were it unluckily im- 
pecunious, she deprived it of an eye. 1 

With the Aztecs this water was called Chicunoapa, 
the Nine Rivers. It was guarded by a dog and a green 
dragon, to conciliate which the dead were furnished 
with slips of paper by way of toll. 2 The Greenland 
Eskimos thought that the waters roared through an 
unfathomable abyss over which there was no other 
bridge than a wheel slippery with ice, forever revolving 
with fearful rapidity, or a path narrow as a cord with 
nothing to hold on by. On the other side sits a horrid 
old woman gnashing her teeth and tearing her hair with 
rage. As each soul approaches she burns a feather 
under its nose ; if it faints she seizes it for her prisoner, 
but if the soul's guardian spirit can overcome her, it 
passes through in safety. 3 

The similarity to the passage of the soul across the 
Styx, and the toll of the obolus to Charon is in the 

1 Molina, Hist, of Chili, ii. p. 81, and others in Waitz, Anthropo- 
logic, iii. p. 197. 

2 I have given a detailed comparison of the " journey of the 
soul " as recorded in Aztec, Egyptian, Greek and Teutonic beliefs, 
showing their remarkable similarities, in Essays of an Americanist, 
pp. 135-147. How anachronistic to find Dr. E. B. Tylor as late 
as 1894 (Proc. Brit. Assoc. Adv. Science) quoting such parallelisms 
as evidence of the Asiatic origin of Mexican culture ! 

3 Nachrichten von Ordnland aus dem Tagebuche von JBischof Paul 
Egede, p. 104 (Kopenhagen, 1790). 

19 



290 



THE SOUL AND ITS DESTINY. 



Aztec legend still more striking, when we remember 
that the Styx was the ninth head of Oceanus (omitting 
the Cocytus, often a branch of the Styx). The Nine 
Rivers probably refer to the nine Lords of the Night, 
ancient Aztec deities guarding the nocturnal hours, and 
introduced into their calendar. The Tupis and Caribs, 
the Mayas and Creeks, entertained very similar expect- 
ations. 

We are to seek the explanation of these widespread 
theories of the soul's journey in the equally prevalent 
tenet that the sun is its destination, and that that lumi- 
nary has his abode beyond the ocean stream, which in 
all primitive geographies rolls its waves around the 
habitable land. This ocean stream is the water which 
all have to attempt to pass, and woe to him whom the 
spirit of the waters, represented either as the old 
woman, the dragon, or the dog of Hecate, seizes and 
overcomes. In the lush fancy of the Orient, the spirit 
of the waters becomes the spirit of evil, the ocean stream 
the abyss of hell, and those who fail in the passage the 
damned, who are foredoomed to evil deeds and endless 
torture. 

No such ethical bearing as this was ever assigned 
the myth by the red race before they were taught by 
Europeans. Father Brebeuf could only find that the 
souls of suicides and those killed in war were supposed 
to live apart from the others ; " but as to the souls of 
scoundrels,' ' he adds, " so far from being shut out, they 
are the welcome guests, though for that matter if it 
were not so, their paradise would be a total desert, as 
Huron and scoundrel {Huron et larrori) are one and the 
same." 1 

When the Minnetarees told Major Long and the 



1 Bel. de la Nouv> France, 1636, p. 105. 



NO PUNISHMENT. 



291 



Mannicicas of the La Plata the Jesuits, 1 that the souls 
of the bad fell into the waters and were swept away, 
this was, beyond doubt, attributable either to a false 
interpretation, or to Christian instruction. No such 
distinction is probable among savages. The Brazilian 
natives divided their dead into classes, supposing that 
the drowned, those killed by violence, and those yield- 
ing to disease, lived in separate regions, but no ethical 
reason whatever seems to have been connected with 
this. 2 

If the conception of a place of moral retribution was 
known at all to the race, it should be found easily re- 
cognizable in Mexico, Yucatan, or Peru, But the so- 
called fi hells " of their religions have no such signifi- 
cance, and the spirits of evil, who were identified by 
early writers with Satan, no more deserve the name 
than does the Greek Pluto. 

(Jupay or Supay, the Shadow, in Peru was supposed 
to rule the land of shades in the centre of the earth. 
To him went all souls not destined to be the compan- 
ions of the Sun. This is all we know of his attributes ; 
and the assertion of Garcilasso de la Vega, that he was 
the analogue of the Christian devil, and that his name 
was never pronounced without spitting and muttering 
a curse on his head, may be invalidated by the testi- 
mony of an earlier and better authority on the religion 
of Peru, who calls him the god of rains, and adds that 
the famous Inca, Huyana Capac, was his high priest. 3 

1 Long's Expedition, i. p. 280 ; Waitz, Anthropologic, iii. p. 531. 

2 Miiller, Amer. Urreligionen, p. 287. 

3 Compare Garcilasso de la Vega, Hist, des Incas, liv. ii. chap, 
ii., with Lett, sur les Superstitions du Perou, p. 104. Qupay is un- 
doubtedly a personal form from Qupan, a shadow. (See Holguin, 
Vocab. de la Lengua Quichua, p. 80 : Cuzco, 1608.) 



292 



THE SOUL AND ITS DESTINY. 



" The devil," says Cogolludo of the Mayas, " is called 
by them Xibilha, which means he who disappears or 
vanishes." 1 In the legends of the Quiches, the name 
Xibalba is given as that of the under-world ruled by 
the grim lords One Death and Seven Deaths. The de- 
rivation of the name is from a root meaning to fear, 
from which comes the term in Maya dialects for a 
ghost or phantom. 2 

Under the influence of a century of Christian cate- 
chizing, the Quiche legends portray this really as a 
place of torment, and its rulers as malignant and pow- 
erful ; but as I have before pointed out, they do so, pro- 
testing that such was not the ancient belief, and they let 
fall no word that shows that it was regarded as the desti- 
nation of the morally bad. The original meaning of the 
name given by Cogolludo points unmistakably to the 
simple fact of disappearance from among men, and 
corresponds in harmlessness to the true sense of those 
words of fear, Scheol, Hades, Hell, all signifying hidden 
from sight, and only endowed with more grim associa- 
tions by the imaginations of later generations. 3 

Mictlanteuctli, Lord of Mictlan, from a word mean- 
ing to kill, was the Mexican Pluto. Like Qupay, he 
dwelt in the subterranean regions, and his palace was 
named Tlalxicco, the navel of the earth. Yet he was 

1 " El que desparece 6 desvanece," Hist, de Yucathan, lib. iv. 
cap. 7. 

2 Ximenes, Vocab. Quiche", p. 224. The attempt of the Abbe 
Brasseur to make of Xibalba an ancient kingdom of renown, with 
Palenque as its capital, is so unsupported as to justify the humor- 
ous flings which have so often been cast at antiquaries. 

3 Scheol is from a Hebrew word, signifying to dig, to hide in 
the earth. Hades signifies the unseen world. Hell Jacob Grimm 
derives from hilan, to conceal in the earth, and it is cognate 
with hoh and hollow. 



THE ABODE OF THE DEAD. 



293 



also located in the far north, and that point of the 
compass and the north wind were named after him. 
Those who descended to him were oppressed by the 
darkness of his abode, but were subjected to no other 
trials ; nor were they sent thither as a punishment, but 
merely from having died of diseases unfitting them for 
Tlalocan. 

Doubtless in many instances the darkened abode of 
the dead was regarded with that natural fear and hor- 
ror which everywhere environ the fact of death. 
Among the Nahuas it bore the ominous name, "the 
valley of Ximohuayan," eternal oblivion, and Apoch- 
quiahuayan, "where there are neither tracks nor 
trails." Both with them, with the Mayas and with the 
Caribs of the South, its principal deity was represented 
by the bat, the ill-omened bird of darkness. 1 

Mictlanteuctli was said to be the most powerful of 
the gods. For who is stronger than Death ? And who 
dare defy the Grave ? As the skald lets Odin say to 
Bragi : " Our lot is uncertain ; even on the hosts of the 
gods gazes the gray Fenris wolf." 2 

These various abodes to which the incorporeal man 
took flight were not always his everlasting home. It 
will be remembered that where a plurality of souls was 
believed, one of these, soon after death, entered another 
body to recommence life on earth. Acting under this 
persuasion, the Algonkin women who desired to become 
mothers, flocked to the couch of those about to die, 
in hope that the vital principle, as it passed from the 
body, would enter theirs, and fertilize their sterile 

1 Tezozomoc, Cronica Mexicana, cap. 81 ; Sahagun, Historia, lib. 
iii. App. cap. 1. On the Bat God, Dr. Seler has written an excel- 
lent monograph in Verhand. der Berlin. Anthrop. OeselL, Dec. 1894. 

2 Pennock, Religion of the Northmen, p. 148. 



294 



THE SOUL AND ITS DESTINY. 



wombs; and when, among the Seminoles of Florida, a 
mother died in childbirth, the infant was held over her 
face to receive her parting spirit, and thus acquire 
strength and knowledge for its future use. 1 

So among the Takahlis, the priest is accustomed to 
lay his hand on the head of the nearest relative of the 
deceased, and to blow into him the soul of the departed, 
which is supposed to come to life in his next child. 2 
Probably, with a reference to the current tradition that 
ascribes the origin of man to the earth, and likens his 
life to that of the plant, the Mexicans were accustomed 
to sa} r that at one time all men have been stones, and 
that at last they would all return to stones ; 3 and, act- 
ing literally on this conviction, they interred with the 
bones of the dead a small green stone, which was 
called the principle of life. 

Whether any nations accepted the doctrine of me- 
tempsychosis, and thought that "the souls of their 
grandams might haply inhabit a partridge," we are 
without the means of knowing. La Hontan denies it 
positively of the Algonkins ; but the natives of Popo- 
yan refused to kill doves, says Coreal,* because they 
believe them inspired by the souls of the departed. 
And Father Ignatius Chome relates that he heard a 
woman of the Chiriquanes in Buenos Ayres say of a fox : 
" May that not be the spirit of my dead daughter ?" 5 

But before accepting such testimony as decisive, we 
must first inquire whether these tribes believed in a 

1 La Hontan, Voy. dans V Am. Sept., i. p. 232 ; Narrative of Oceola 
Nikkanoche, p. 75. 

2 Morse, Rep. on the Inch Tribes, App. p. 345. 

3 Garcia, Or. de los Indios, lib. iv. cap. 26, p. 310. 

4 Voiages aux Indes Oc., ii. p. 132. 

5 Lettres Edif. et Cur., v. p. 203. 



THE RES VRRECTION. 



295 



multiplicity of souls, whether these animals had a 
symbolical value, and if not, whether the soul was not 
simply presumed to put on this shape in its journey 
to the land of the hereafter : inquiries which are unan- 
swered. Leaving, therefore, the question open, whether 
the sage of Samos had any disciples in the new world, 
another and more fruitful topic is presented by their 
well-ascertained notions of the resurrection of the dead. 

This seemingly extraordinary doctrine, which some 
have asserted was entirely unknown and impossible to 
the American Indians, 1 was in fact one of their most 
deeply -rooted and wide-spread convictions, especially 
among the tribes of the eastern United States. It is 
indissolubly connected with their highest theories of a 
future life, their burial ceremonies, and their modes of 
expression. 

The Moravian Brethren give the grounds of this 
belief with great clearness : " That they hold the soul 
to be immortal, and perhaps think the body will rise 
again, they give not unclearly to understand when they 
say, 1 We Indians shall not for ever die ; even the grains 
of corn we put under the earth, grow up and become 
living things.' They conceive that when the soul has 
been a while with God, it can, if it chooses, return to 
earth and be born again." 2 

This is the highest and typical creed of the aborig- 
ines. But instead of simply being born again in the 
ordinary sense of the word, they thought the soul 
would return to the bones, that these would clothe 
themselves with flesh, and that the man would rejoin 
his tribe. That this was the real, though often doubt- 
less the dimly understood reason of the custom of 

1 Alger, Hist, of the Doctrine of a Future Life, p. 72. 

2 Loskiel, Ges. der Miss, der evang. Briider, p. 49. 



296 



THE SOUL AND ITS DESTINY. 



preserving the bones of the deceased, can be shown by- 
various arguments. 

This practice was almost universal. East of the 
Mississippi nearly every nation was accustomed, at 
stated periods — usually once in eight or ten years — to 
collect and clean the osseous remains of those of its 
number who had died in the intervening time, and 
inter them in one common sepulchre, lined with choice 
furs, and marked with a mound of wood, stone, and 
earth. Such is the origin of those immense tumuli 
filled with the mortal remains of nations and genera- 
tions which the antiquary, with irreverent curiosity, 
has so frequently chanced upon in all portions of our 
territory. 

Throughout Central America the same usage obtained 
in various localities, as early writers and existing mon- 
uments abundantly testify. Instead of interring the 
bones, were they those of some distinguished chieftain, 
they were deposited in the temples or the council- 
houses, usually in small chests of canes or splints. 
Such were the charnel-houses which the historians of 
De Soto's expedition so often mentioned, and these are 
the " arks'' which Adair and other authors, who have 
sought to trace the descent of the Indians from the 
Jews, have likened to that which the ancient Israelites 
bore with them on their migrations. A widow among 
the Tahkalis was obliged to carry the bones of her de- 
ceased husband wherever she went for four years, pre- 
serving them in such a casket handsomely decorated 
with feathers. 1 

The Caribs of the mainland adopted the custom for 
all without exception. About a year after death the 

1 Richardson, Arctic Expedition, p. 260. 



ANCESTRAL WORSHIP. 



297 



bones were cleaned, bleached, painted, wrapped in 
odorous balsams, placed in a wicker basket, and kept 
suspended from the door of their dwellings. 1 When 
the quantity of these heirlooms became burdensome, 
they were removed to some inaccessible cavern, and 
stowed away with reverential care. Such was the cave 
Ataruipe, a visit to which has been so eloquently de- 
scribed by Alexander von Humboldt in his " Views of 
Nature." 

So great was the filial respect for these remains by 
the Indians, that on the Mississippi, in Peru, and else- 
where, no tyranny, no cruelty, so embittered the in- 
digenes against the white explorers as the sacrilegious 
search for treasures perpetrated among the sepulchres 
of past generations. Unable to understand the mean- 
ing of such deep feeling, so foreign to the European 
who, without a second thought, turns a cemetery into 
a public square, or seeds it down in wheat, the Jesuit 
missionaries in Paraguay accuse the natives of wor- 
shipping the skeletons of their forefathers, and the 
English of Virginia repeated it of the Powhatans. 2 

In a certain sense this may be regarded as a devel- 
opment of the worship of ancestors. In America, how- 
ever, ancestral worship in its true sense, as it has long 
existed in China for example, was not prominent. The 
Knisteneaux on Nelson River were accustomed to 
strangle their parents when old ; yet each master of a 

- Gumilla, Hist, del Orinoco, i. pp. 199, 202, 204. 

2 Much light is thrown upon the native beliefs in the destiny of 
the soul and the after life, by an intelligent analysis of funeral 
rites and ceremonies. Excellent material for this is furnished by 
the essays of Dr. H. C. Yarrow, Introduction to Uce Study of Mortuary 
Customs among the American Indians (Washington, 1880), and a 
"Further Contribution " in 1st An. Kep. Bureau of Ethnology. 



298 



THE SOUL AND ITS DESTINY. 



family, the deed performed, kept by him a bunch of 
feathers tied with a string, called it " his father's head," 
and regarded it with superstitious reverence. 1 

The Aztecs celebrated a feast to the dead once in each 
year, at which time they gazed to the north and called 
upon their ancestors to " come soon, for we wait you." 
The Quiches of Guatemala had a similar annual fes- 
tival when they recited the names of their deceased 
ancestors, and when also each person visited the spot 
where his or her navel-string had been buried. 2 The 
Tupis worshipped Tamoin and the Incas Pacarina, 
alleged ancestors of their nation, but only in the recon- 
dite sense well explained by Mr. Markham, " as the 
forefathers of the clan idealized in the soul or essence 
of his descendants." 3 

In some of the gentes in various parts of the conti- 
nent there prevailed a belief that the soul would some- 
how return to the eponymous ancestor ; that is, that 
those of the buffalo gens, for example, would at death 
either enter buffaloes, or go where dwells the great 
original buffalo.* For the totemic eponym, or original 
forefather of the gens was not considered to be a brute 
merely, but one of the mighty primal spirits to whom 
was given or who had assumed the brute form. 5 

The question has been debated and variously an- 
swered, whether the art of mummification was known 
and practised in America. Without entering into the 

1 J. Kobson, Ac. of Res. in Hudson Bay, p. 48. 

2 Codex Telleriano-Remensis, p. 192 ; Brinton, Native Calendar, 
p. 17. 

3 C. E. Markham, Jour. Roy. Geog. Soc., 1871, p. 291. 

4 J. O. Dorser, Siouan Cults, p. 542. 

5 As Dr. W- J. Hoffman reports of the Menomonis, Amer. An- 
thropologist, July, 1890. 



MUMMIES. 



299 



discussion, it is certain that preservation of the corpse 
by a long and thorough process of exsiccation over a 
slow fire was nothing unusual, not only in Peru, Po- 
poyan, the Carib countries, and Nicaragua, but among 
many of the tribes north of the Gulf of Mexico, as I 
have elsewhere shown. 1 The object was essentially the 
same as when the bones alone were preserved ; and in 
the case of rulers, the same homage was often paid to 
their corpses as had been the just due of their living 
bodies. 2 

The opinion underlying all these customs was, that 
a part of the soul, or one of the souls, dwelt in the 
bones ; that these were the seeds which, planted in the 
earth, or preserved unbroken in safe places, would, in 
time, put on once again a garb of flesh, and germinate 
into living human beings. Language illustrates this 
not unusual theory. The Iroquois word for bone is 
esken — for soul, atisken, literally that which is within 
the bone. 3 In an Athapascan dialect bone is yani, soul 
i-yune. 4. The Hebrew Rabbis taught that in the bone 
lutz, the coccyx, remained at death the germ of a sec- 
ond life, which, at the proper time would develop into 
the purified body, as the plant from the seed. 

But mythology and superstitions add more decisive 
testimony. One of the Aztec legends of the origin of 
man was, that after one of the destructions of the world 
the gods took counsel together how to renew the spe- 
cies. It was decided that one of their number, Xolotl, 
should descend to Mictlan, the realm of the dead, and 
bring thence a bone of the perished race. The frag- 

1 Notes on the Floridian Peninsula, pp. 191 sqq. 

2 See Dr. H. C. Yarrow, 1st Rep. Bur. Ethnology, pp. 130-137. 

3 Bruyas, Had. Verborum Iroquceorum. 

* Buschmann, Athapask. Sprachstamm, pp. 182, 188. 



300 



THE SOUL AND ITS DESTINY. 



ments of this they sprinkled with blood, and on the 
fourth day it grew into a youth, the father of the 
present race. 1 

The profound mystical significance of this legend is 
reflected in one told by the Quiches, in which the hero 
gods Hunahpu and Xblanque succumb to the rulers of 
Xibalba, the darksome powers of death. Their bodies 
are burned, but their bones are ground in a mill and 
thrown in the waters, lest they should come to life. 
Even this precaution is insufficient — " for these ashes 
did not go far ; they sank to the bottom of the stream, 
where, in the twinkling of an eye, they were changed 
into handsome youths, and their very same features 
appeared anew. On the fifth day they displayed 
themselves anew, and were seen in the water by the 
people," 2 whence they emerged to overcome and de- 
stroy the powers of death and hell (Xibalba). 

The strongest analogies to these myths are offered 
by the superstitious rites of distant tribes. Some of 
the Tupis of Brazil were wont on the death of a rela- 
tive to dry and pulverize his bones and then mix them 
with their food, a nauseous practice they defended by 
asserting that the soul of the dead remained in the 
bones and lived again in the living. 3 Even the lower 
animals were supposed to follow the same law. Hardly 
any of the hunting tribes, before their original manners 
were vitiated by foreign influence, permitted the bones 
of game slain in the chase to be broken, or left care- 
lessly about the encampment. They were collected in 
heaps, or thrown into the water. Mrs. Eastman ob- 
serves that even yet the Dakotas deem it an omen of 

1 Torquemada, Monarquia Indiana, lib. vi. cap. 41. 

2 Le Litre Sacre des Quiches, pp. 175-177. 

3 Mailer, Amer. Urrelig., p. 290, after Spix. 



SOUL IN THE BONES. 



301 



ill luck in the hunt, if the dogs gnaw the bones or a 
woman inadvertently steps over them ; and the Chipe- 
way interpreter, John Tanner, speaks of the same fear 
among that tribe. 

The Yurucares of Bolivia carried it to such an incon- 
venient extent, that they carefully put by even small 
fish bones, saying that unless this is done the fish and 
game will disappear from the country. 1 The traveller 
on our western prairies often notices the buffalo skulls, 
countless numbers of which bleach on those vast 
plains, arranged in circles and symmetrical piles by the 
careful hands of the native hunters. The explanation 
they offer for this custom gives the key to the whole 
theory and practice of preserving the oss eous relics of 
the dead, as well human as brute. They say that 
" the bones contain the spirits of the slain animals, and 
that some time in the future they will rise from the 
earth, re-clothe themselves with flesh, and stock the 
prairies anew." 2 

This explanation, which comes to us from indisputa- 
ble authority, sets forth in its true light the belief of 
the red race in a resurrection. It is not possible to 
trace it out in the subtleties with which theologians 
have surrounded it as a dogma. The very attempt 
would be absurd. They never occurred to the Indian. 
He thought that the soul now enjoying the delights of 
the happy hunting grounds would some time return to 
the bones, take on flesh, and live again. 

Such is precisely the much discussed statement that 
Garcilasso de la Vega says he often heard from the 
native Peruvians. He adds that so careful were they 
lest any of the body should be lost that they preserved 

1 D'Orbigny, Annuaire des Voyages, 1845, p. 77. 

2 Long's Expedition, i. p. 278. 



302 



THE SOUL AND ITS DESTINY. 



even the parings of their nails and clippings of the 
hair. 1 In contradiction to this the writer Acosta has 
been quoted, who says that the Peruvians embalmed 
their dead because they " had no knowledge that the 
bodies should rise with the soul." 2 But, rightly under- 
stood, this is a confirmation of La Vega's account. 
Acosta means that the Christian doctrine of the body 
rising from the dust being unknown to the Peruvians 
(which is perfectly true), they preserved the body just 
as it was, so that the soul when it returned to earth, as 
all expected, might not be at a loss for a house of flesh. 

The notions thus entertained by the red race on the 
resurrection are peculiar to it, and stand apart from 
those of any other. They did not look for the second 
life to be either better or worse than the present one ; 
they regarded it neither as a reward nor a punishment 
to be sent back to the world of the living ; nor is there 
satisfactory evidence that it was ever distinctly con- 
nected with a moral or physical theory of the destiny 
of the universe, or even with their prevalent expecta- 
tion of recurrent epochs in the course of nature. 

It is true that a writer whose personal veracity is 
above all doubt, Mr. Adam Hodgson, relates an ancient 
tradition of the Choctaws, to the effect that the present 
world will be consumed by a general conflagration, 
after which it will be reformed pleasanter than it now 
is, and that then the spirits of the dead will return to 
the bones in the bone mounds, flesh will knit together 
their loose joints, and they shall again inhabit their 
ancient territory. 3 

There was also a similar belief among the Eskimos. 

1 Hist, deslncas, lib. iii. chap. 7. 

2 Hist, of the New World, bk. v. chap. 7. 

3 Travels in North America, p. 280. 



A MILLENNIUM. 



303 



They said that in the course of time the waters will 
overwhelm the land, purify it of the blood of the dead, 
melt the icebergs, and wash away the steep rocks, A 
wind will then drive off the waters, and the new land 
will be peopled by reindeers and young seals. Then 
will He above blow once on the bones of the men and 
twice on those of the women, whereupon they will at 
once start into life, and lead thereafter a joyous exist- 
ence. 1 

But though there is nothing in these narratives alien 
to the course of thought in the native mind, yet as the 
date of the first is recent (1820), as they are not sup- 
ported (so far as I know) by similar traditions else- 
where, and as they may have arisen from Christian 
doctrines of a millennium, I leave them for future in- 
vestigation. 

What strikes us the most in this analysis of the 
opinions entertained by the red race on a future life is 
the clear and positive hope of a hereafter, in such strong 
contrast to the feeble and vague notions of the ancient 
Israelites, Greeks and Romans, and yet the entire inert- 
ness of this hope in leading them to a purer moral life. 
It offers another proof that the fulfilment of duty is in 
its nature nowise connected with or derived from a con- 
sideration of ultimate personal consequences. It is 
another evidence that the religious is wholly distinct 
from the moral sentiment, and that the origin of ethics 
is not to be sought in connection with the ideas of 
divinity and responsibility. 

1 Egede, Nachrichten von Gronland, p. 156. Further on the 
Eskimo belief is given by Dr. Henry Rink, Tales and Traditions 
of the Eskimo, p. 32 sq. ; Dr. Franz Boas, The Central Eskimo, pp. 
588, 589. 



304 



THE NATIVE PRIESTHOOD. 



CHAPTER X. 



THE NATIVE PRIESTHOOD. 



Their titles. — Practitioners of the healing art by supernatural 
means. — Their power derived from natural magic and the exer- 
cise of the clairvoyant and mesmeric faculties. — Examples. — 
Epidemic hysteria. — Their social position. — Their duties as 
religious functionaries. — Terms of admission to the Priesthood. 
— Inner organization in various nations. — Their esoteric lan- 
guages and secret societies. 

rPHUS picking painfully amid the ruins of a race gone 



to wreck centuries ago, thus rejecting much foreign 
rubbish and scrutinizing each stone that lies around, 
if we still are unable to rebuild the edifice in its pristine 
symmetry, yet we can at least discern and trace the 
ground plan and outlines of the fane it raised to God. 
Before leaving the field to the richer returns of more 
fortunate workmen, it will not be inappropriate to add 
a sketch of the ministers of these religions, the servants 
in this temple. 

Shamans, conjurers, sorcerers, medicine men, wizards, 
and many another hard name have been given them, 
but I shall call them priests, for in their poor way, as 
well as any other priesthood, they set up to be the 
agents of the gods, and the interpreters of divinity. 
No tribe was so devoid of religious sentiment as to be 
without them. Their power was terrible, and their use 
of it unhesitating. Neither men nor gods, death nor 
life, the winds nor the waves, were beyond their con- 
trol. 




NAMES OF PEIESTS. 



305 



Like Old Men of the Sea, they have clung to the 
neck of their nations, throttling all attempts at pro- 
gress, binding them to the thraldom of superstition and 
profligacy, dragging them down to wretchedness and 
death. Christianity and civilization meet in them their 
most determined, most implacable foes. 

But what is this but the story of priestcraft and in- 
tolerance everywhere, which Old Spain can repeat as 
well as New Spain, the white race as well as the red ? 
Blind leaders of the blind, dupers and duped fall into 
the ditch. 

In their own languages they are variously called ; by 
the Algonkins and Dakotas, "those knowing divine 
things " and " dreamers of the gods " (manitousiou, 
wakanwacipi) ; in Mexico, " masters or guardians of the 
divine things " (teopixqui, teotecuhtli) and nanahualtin, 
" those who know ;" in Cherokee, their title means 
" possessed of the divine fire " (atsihmg Jcelawhi) ; in 
Iroquois, " keepers of the faith " (honundeuni) ; in 
Quichua, " the learned " (amauta) ; in Maya, " the lis- 
teners " (cocome) ; in Eskimo, angakoh, " the ancient 
ones " (those possessing the elder knowledge) ; in 
Apache, diyi, the "wise ones.'' 1 

The popular term in French and English of " medi- 
cine men " is not such a misnomer as might be sup- 
posed. The noble science of medicine is connected 
with divinity not only by the rudest savage but the pro- 
foundest philosopher, as has been already adverted to. 
When sickness is looked upon as the effect of the anger 
of a god, or as the malicious infliction of a sorcerer, it 

1 The article on " The Medicine Men of the Apache," in 9th 
An. Mep. Bur. Ethnology, by the late Captain John G. Bourke, con- 
tains much general as well as special information on the position 
and practice of these native priests. 

20 



306 



THE NATIVE PRIESTHOOD. 



is natural to seek help from those who assume to con- 
trol the unseen world, and influence the flats of the 
Almighty. 

The recovery from disease is the kindliest exhibition 
of divine power. Therefore the earliest canons of 
medicine in India and Egypt are attributed to no less 
distinguished authors than the gods Brahma and 
Thoth therefore the earliest practitioners of the heal- 
ing art are universally the ministers of religion. 

But, however creditable this origin is to medicine, its 
partnership with theology was no particular advantage 
to it. These mystical doctors shared the disrespect 
still so prevalent among ourselves for a treatment based 
on experiment and reason, and regarded the adminis- 
tration of emetics and purgatives, baths and diuretics, 
with a contempt quite equal to that of the disciples of 
Hahnemann. The practitioners of the rational school 
formed a separate class among the Indians, and had 
nothing to do with amulets, powwows, or spirits. 2 
They were of different name and standing, and though 
held in less estimation, such valuable additions to the 
pharmacopoeia as guaiacum, cinchona, and ipecacuan- 
ha, were learned from them. 

The priesthood scorned such ignoble means. Were 
they summoned to a patient, they drowned his groans 
in a barbarous clangor of instruments in order to fright 
away the demon that possessed him ; they sucked and 
blew upon the diseased organ ; they sprinkled him with 
water, and catching it again threw it on the ground, 
thus drowning out the disease ; they rubbed the part 
with their hands, and exhibiting a bone or splinter 
asserted that they drew it from the body, and that it 

1 Haeser, Geschichte der Medicin, pp. 4, 7 (Jena, 1845). 

2 Schoolcraft, Ind, Tribes, v. p. 440. 



PRIESTLY DOCTORS. 



307 



had been the cause of the malady; they manufactured 
a little image to represent the spirit of sickness, and 
spitefully knocked it to pieces, thus vicariously destroy- 
ing its prototype; they sang doleful and monotonous 
chants at the top of their voices, screwed their counte- 
nances into hideous grimaces, twisted their bodies into 
unheard of contortions, and by all accounts did their 
utmost to merit the honorarium they demanded for 
their services. 1 

A double motive spurred them to spare no pains. 
For if they failed, not only was their reputation gone, 
but the next expert called in was likely enough to hint, 
with that urbanity so traditional in the profession, that 
the illness was in fact caused or much increased by 
the antagonistic nature of the remedies previously 
employed, whereupon the chances were that the doc- 
tor's life fell into greater jeopardy than that of his 
quondam patient. 

Considering the probable result of this treatment, 
we may be allowed to doubt whether it redounded on 
the whole very much to the honor of the fraternity. 
Their strong points are rather to be looked for in the 
real knowledge gained by a solitary and reflective life, 
by an earnest study of the appearances of nature, and 
of those hints and forest signs which are wholly lost on 
the white man and beyond the ordinary insight of a 
native. Travellers often tell of changes of the weather 
predicted by them with astonishing foresight, and of 
information of singular accuracy and extent gleaned 
from most meagre materials. 

There is nothing in this to shock our sense of proba- 

1 Judge Im Thurn gives an interesting account of his own ex- 
perience with such a physician. Among the Indians of Guiana, 
p. 337. 



308 



THE NATIVE PRIESTHOOD. 



bility — much to elevate our opinion of the native 
sagacity. They were also adepts in tricks of sleight of 
hand, and had no mean acquaintance with what is 
called natural magic. They would allow themselves 
to be tied hand and foot with knots innumerable, and 
at a sign would shake them loose as so many wisps of 
straw; they would spit fire and swallow hot coals, 
pick glowing stones from the flames, walk with naked 
feet over live ashes, and plunge their arms to the 
shoulder in kettles of boiling water with apparent im- 
punity. 1 

Nor was this all. With a skill not inferior to that 
of the jugglers of India, they could plunge knives into 
vital parts, vomit blood, or kill one another out and 
out to all appearances, and yet in a few minutes be as 
well as ever ; they could set fire to articles of clothing 
and even houses, and by a touch of their magic restore 
them instantly as perfect as before. Says Father Bau- 
tista : " They can make a stick look like a serpent, a 
mat like a centipede, and a piece of stone like a scor- 
pion." 2 If it were not within our power to see most 
of these miracles performed any night in our great 
cities by a well dressed professional, we should at once 
deny their possibility. As it is they astonish us but 
little. 

One of the most peculiar and characteristic exhibi- 
tions of their power, was to summon a spirit to answer 
inquiries concerning the future and the absent. A 
great similarity marked this proceeding in all northern 

1 Carver, Travels in North America, p. 73 (Boston, 1802) ; Narrative 
of John Tanner, p. 135, etc. 

2 Sahagun, Hist, de la Nueva Espana, lib. x. cap. 20 ; Le Livre 
Sacre des Qu iches, p. 177 ; Lett, sur les Superstit. du Perou, pp, 89, 91 ; 
Bautista, Advertencia para los Confesores, fol. 112 (1600). 



SUMMONING SPIRITS. 309 

tribes from the Eskimos to the Mexicans. A circular 
or conical lodge of stout poles four or eight in number 
planted firmly in the ground, was covered with skins 
or mats, a small aperture only being left for the seer to 
enter. Once in, he carefully closed the hole and com- 
menced his incantations. Soon the lodge trembles, 
the strong poles shake and bend as with the united 
strength of a dozen men, and strange, unearthly sounds, 
now far aloft in the air, now deep in the ground, anon 
approaching near and nearer, reach the ears of the 
spectators. 

At length the priest announces that the spirit is 
present, and is prepared to answer questions. An in- 
dispensable preliminary to any inquiry is to insert a 
handful of tobacco, or a string of beads, or some such 
douceur under the skins, ostensibly for the behoof of 
the celestial visitor, who would seem not to be above 
earthly wants and vanities. The replies received, 
though occasionally singularly clear and correct, are 
usually of that profoundly ambiguous purport which 
leaves the anxious inquirer little wiser than he was 
before. 

For all this, ventriloquism, trickery, and shrewd 
knavery are sufficient explanations. Nor does it ma- 
terially interfere with this view, that converted Indians, 
on whose veracity we can implicitly rely, have repeat- 
edly averred that in performing this rite they them- 
selves did not move the medicine lodge ; for nothing is 
easier than in the state of nervous excitement they were 
then in to be self-deceived, as the now familiar phe- 
nomenon of table-turning illustrates. 

But there is something more than these vulgar arts 
now and then to be perceived. There are statements 
supported by unquestionable testimony, which ought 



310 



THE NATIVE PRIESTHOOD. 



not to be passed over in silence, and yet I cannot but 
approach them with hesitation. They are so revolting 
to the laws of exact science, so alien, I had almost 
said, to the experience of our lives. Yet is this true, 
or are such experiences only ignored and put aside 
without serious consideration? Are there not in the 
history of each of us passages which strike our retro- 
spective thought with awe, almost with terror? Are 
there not in nearly every community individuals who 
possess a mysterious power, concerning whose origin, 
mode of action, and limits, we and they are alike in 
the dark ? 

I refer to such organic forces as are popularly 
summed up under the words clairvoyance, mesmerism, 
rhabdomancy, animal magnetism, physical spiritual- 
ism. Civilized thousands stake their faith and hope 
here and hereafter, on the truth of these manifesta- 
tions ; rational medicine recognizes their existence, 
and while she attributes them to morbid and excep- 
tional influences, confesses her want of more exact 
knowledge, and refrains from barren theorizing. Let 
us follow her example, and hold it enough to show 
that such powers, whatever they are, were known to 
the native priesthood as well as the modern spiritual- 
ists and the miracle mongers of the Middle Ages. 

Their highest development is what our ancestors 
called " second sight." That under certain conditions 
knowledge can pass from one mind to another other- 
wise than through the ordinary channels of the senses, 
is shown by the examples of persons en rapport. The 
limit to this we do not know, but it is not unlikely that 
clairvoyance or second sight is based upon it. 

In his autobiography, the celebrated Sac chief Black 
Hawk, relates that his great grandfather " was inspired 



SECOND SIGHT. 



311 



by a belief that at the end of four years, he should see 
a white man, who would be to him a father." Under 
the direction of this vision he travelled eastward to a 
certain spot, and there, as he was forewarned, met a 
Frenchman, through whom the nation was brought 
into alliance with France. 1 

No one at all versed in the Indian character will 
doubt the implicit faith with which this legend was 
told and heard. But we may be pardoned our scepti- 
cism, seeing there are so many chances of error. It is 
not so with an anecdote related by Captain Jonathan 
Carver, a cool-headed English trader, whose little book 
of travels is an unquestioned authority. In 1767 he 
was among the Killistenoes at a time when they were 
in great straits for food, and depending upon the ar- 
rival of the traders to rescue them from starvation. 
They persuaded the chief priest to consult the divini- 
ties as to when the relief would arrive. After the usual 
preliminaries, this magnate announced that the next 
day, precisely when the sun reached the zenith, a canoe 
would arrive with further tidings. At the appointed 
hour, the whole village, together with the incredulous 
Englishman, was on the beach, and sure enough, at the 
minute specified, a canoe swung round a distant point 
of land, and rapidly approaching the shore brought 
the expected news. 2 

Charlevoix is nearly as trustworthy a writer as Carver. 
Yet he deliberately relates an equally singular instance. 3 

But these examples are surpassed by one described 
in the Atlantic Monthly of July, 1866, the author of 
which, the late Col. John Mason Brown, has assured 

1 Life of Black Hawk, p. 13. 

2 Travs. in North America, p. 74. 

3 Journal Historique, p. 362. 



812 



THE NATIVE PRIESTHOOD. 



me of its accuracy in every particular. Some years 
since, at the head of a party of voyageurs, he set forth 
in search of a band of Indians somewhere on the vast 
plains along the tributaries of the Copper-mine and 
Mackenzie rivers. Danger, disappointment, and the 
fatigues of the road, induced one after another to turn 
back, until of the original ten only three remained. 
They also were on the point of giving up the apparently 
hopeless quest, when they were met by some warriors 
of the very band they were seeking. These had been 
sent out by one of their medicine men to find three 
whites, whose horses, arms, attire, and personal appear- 
ance he minutely described, which description was 
repeated to Col. Brown by the warriors before they saw 
his two companions. When afterwards, the priest, a 
frank and simple-minded man, was asked to explain 
this extraordinary occurrence, he could offer no other 
explanation than that " he saw them coming, and heard 
them talk on their journey." 1 

Many tales such as these have been recorded by 
travellers, and however much they may shock our sense 

1 Sometimes facts like this can be explained by the quickness 
of perception acquired by constant exposure to danger. The 
mind takes cognizance unconsciously of trifling incidents, the sum 
of which leads it to a conviction which the individual regards 
almost as an inspiration. This is the explanation of presentiments. 
But this does not apply to cases like that of Swedenborg, who 
described a conflagration going on at Stockholm, when he was at 
Gottenberg, two hundred miles away Psychologists who scorn 
any method of studying the mind but through physiology, are at 
a loss in such cases, and take refuge in refusing them credence. 
Theologians call them inspirations either of devils or angels, as 
they happen to agree or disagree in religious views with the person 
experiencing them. True science reserves its opinion until further 
observation enlightens it. 



MESMERISM. 



313 



of probability, as well-authenticated exhibitions of a 
power which sways the Indian mind, and which has 
ever prejudiced it so unchangeably against Christianity 
and civilization, they cannot be disregarded. Whether 
they too are but specimens of refined knavery, whether 
they are instigations of the Devil, or whether they must 
be classed with other facts as illustrating certain ob- 
scure and curious mental faculties, each may decide as 
the bent of his mind inclines him, for science makes 
no decision. 

Those nervous conditions associated with the name 
of Mesmer were nothing new to the Indian magicians. 
Rubbing and stroking the sick, and the laying on of 
hands, were very common parts of their clinical proce- 
dures, and at the initiations to their societies they were 
frequently exhibited. Observers have related that 
among the Nez Perces of Oregon, the novice was put to 
sleep by songs, incantations, and " certain passes of the 
hand," and that with the Dakotas he would be struck 
lightly on the breast at a preconcerted moment, and 
instantly " would drop prostrate on his face, his muscles 
rigid and quivering in every fibre." 1 

There is no occasion to suppose deceit in this. It 
finds its parallel in every race and every age, and rests 
on a characteristic trait of certain epochs and certain 
men, which leads them to seek the divine, not in 
thoughtful contemplation on the laws of the universe 
and the facts of self-consciousness, but in an entire im- 
molation of the latter, a sinking of their own individ- 
uality in that of the spirits whose alliance they seek. 

This is an outgrowth of that ignoring of the univer- 
sality of Law, which belongs to the lower stages of en- 

1 Schoolcraft, Indian Tribes, iii. p. 287; v. p. 652. 



314 



THE NATIVE! PRIESTHOOD. 



lightenment. 1 And as this is never done with impun- 
ity, but with certainty brings punishment with it, the 
study of the mental conditions thus evoked, and the 
results which follow them, offer a salutary subject of 
reflection to the theologian as well as the physician. 
For these examples of nervous pathology are identical 
in kind, and alike in consequences, whether witnessed 
in the primitive forests of the New World, among the 
convulsionists of St. Medard, or in the excited scenes 
of a religious revival in one of our own churches. 

Sleeplessness and abstemiousness, carried to the verge 
of human endurance— seclusion, and the pertinacious 
fixing of the mind on one subject — the swallowing or 
inhalation of cerebral intoxicants — obstinate gloating 
on some morbid fancy, these rarely failed to bring 
about hallucinations with all the garb of reality. Phy- 
sicians are well aware that the more frequently these 
diseased conditions of the mind are sought, the more 
readily they are found. 

They were often induced by intoxicating and nar- 
cotic herbs. Tobacco, the maguey, coca ; in California 
the chucuaco ; among the Mexicans the snake plant, 
ololiuhqui, and the peyotl; and among the southern 
tribes of our own country the cassine yupon and iris 
versicolor, 2 were used ; and, it is even said, were culti- 
vated for this purpose. 

1 "The progress from deepest ignorance to highest enlighten- 
ment," remarks Herbert Spencer in his Social Statics, "is a pro- 
gress from entire unconsciousness of law, to the conviction that 
law is universal and inevitable." 

2 The Creeks had, according to Hawkins, not less than seven 
sacred plants ; chief of them were the cassine yupon, called by 
botanists Hex vomitoria, or Ilex cassina, of the natural order Aqui- 
foliace?e ; and the blue flag, Iris versicolor, natural order Iridaceae. 



TRANCE AND ECSTASY. 



315 



The seer must work himself up to a prophetic fury, 
or speechless lie in apparent death before the mind of 
the gods would be opened to him. Trance and ecstasy 
were the two avenues he knew to divinity ; fasting and 
seclusion the means employed to discover them. His 
ideal was of a prophet who dwelt far from men, with- 
out need of food, in constant communion with divinity. 

Such an one, in the legends of the Tupis, resided on 
a mountain glittering with gold and silver, near the 
river Uaupe, his only companion a dog, his only occu- 
pation dreaming of the gods. When, however, an 
eclipse was near, his dog would bark ; and then, taking 
the form of a bird, he would fly over the villages, and 
learn the changes that had taken place. 1 

But man cannot trample with impunity on the laws 
of his physical life, and the consequences of these 
deprivations and morbid excitements of the brain 
show themselves in terrible pictures. Not unfrequently 
they were carried to the pitch of raving mania, remind- 
ing one of the worst forms of the Berserker fury of the 
Scandinavians, or the Bacchic rage of Greece. 

The enthusiast, maddened with the fancies of a dis- 
ordered intellect, would start forth from his seclusion 
in an access of demoniac frenzy. Then woe to the dog, 
the child, the slave, or the woman who crossed his 

The former is a powerful diuretic and mild emetic, and grows 
only near the sea. The latter is an active emeto-cathartic, and is 
abundant on swampy grounds throughout the Southern States. 
From it was formed the celebrated " black drink," with which 
they opened their councils, and which served them in place of 
spirits. On the various plants used by the ancient Mexicans to 
produce the divine delirium see my Nagualism, pp. 6-8. 

1 Martius, Von dem Rechtzustande unter den Ureinwohnern Brasili- 
ens, p. 32. 



316 



THE NATIVE PRIESTHOOD. 



path; for nothing but blood could satisfy his inap- 
peasable craving, and they fell instant victims to his 
madness. But were it a strong man, he bared his arm, 
and let the frenzied hermit bury his teeth in the quiv- 
ering flesh. Such is a scene to a recent day not uncom- 
mon on the northwest coast, and few of the natives 
around Milbank Sound are without the scars the result 
of this horrid custom. 1 

This frenzy, terrible enough in individuals, had its 
most disastrous effects when with that peculiar facility 
of contagion which marks hysterical maladies, it swept 
through whole villages, transforming them into bed- 
lams filled with unrestrained madmen. Those who 
have studied the strange and terrible mental epidemics 
that visited Europe in the middle ages, such as the 
tarantula dance of Apulia, the chorea Germanorum, 
and the great St. Vitus' dance, will be prepared to ap- 
preciate the nature of a scene at a Huron village, de- 
scribed by Father le Jeune in 1639. 

A festival of three days and three nights had been in 
progress to relieve a woman who, from the description, 
seems to have been suffering from some obscure nerv- 
ous complaint. Toward the close of this vigil, which 
throughout was marked by all sorts of debaucheries 
and excesses, all the participants seemed suddenly 
seized by ten thousand devils. They ran howling and 
shrieking through the town, breaking everything de- 
structible in the cabins, killing dogs, beating the women 
and children, tearing their garments, and scattering the 
fires in every direction with bare hands and feet. Some 
of them dropped senseless, to remain long or perma- 
nently insane, but the others continued until worn out 
with exhaustion. 



1 Mr. Anderson, in the Am. Hist. Mag., vii. p. 79. 



EPIDEMIC MANIAS. 



317 



The Father learned that during these orgies not un- 
frequently whole villages were consumed, and the total 
extirpation of some families had resulted. No wonder 
that he saw in them the diabolical workings of the 
prince of evil, but the physician is rather inclined to 
class them with those cases of epidemic hysteria, the 
common products of violent and ill-directed mental 
stimuli. 1 Precisely analogous is the epidemic madness 
which at times raged among the Guaranis of Paraguay. 
Bands of men and women would roam the country at 
night, seizing, tearing with their teeth, and sometimes 
killing the wayfarers they would encounter. 2 

These various considerations prove beyond a doubt 
that the power of the priesthood did by no means rest 
exclusively on deception. They indorse and explain 
the assertions of converted natives, that their power as 
prophets was something real, and entirely inexplicable 
to themselves. And they make it easily understood 
how those missionaries failed who attempted to per- 
suade them that all this boasted power was false. 

More correct views than these ought to have been 

1 Such spectacles were nothing uncommon. They are fre- 
quently mentioned in the Jesuit Relations, and they were the 
chief obstacles to missionary labor. In the debauches and ex- 
cesses that excited these temporary manias, in the recklessness of 
life and property they fostered, and in their disastrous effects on 
mind and body, are depicted more than in any other one trait the 
thorough depravity of the race and its tendency to ruin. In the 
quaint words of one of the Catholic fathers, "If the old proverb 
is true that every man has a grain of madness in his composition, 
it must be confessed that this is a people where each has at least 
half an ounce" (De Quen, Bel. de la Nouv. France, 1656, p. 27). 
For the instance in the text see Bel. de la Nouv. France, An. 1639, 
pp. 88-94. 

2 Antonio Ruiz, Conquista Espiritual de Paraguay, fol. 90. 



318 



THE NATIVE PRIESTHOOD. 



suggested by the facts themselves, for it is indisputable 
that these magicians did not hesitate at times to test 
their strength on each other. In these strange duels a 
Voutrance, one would be seated opposite his antagonist, 
surrounded with the mysterious emblems of his craft, 
and call upon his gods, one after another, to strike his 
enemy dead. Sometimes one, "gathering his medi- 
cine," as it was termed, feeling within himself that 
hidden force of will which makes itself acknowledged 
even without words, would rise in his might, and in a 
loud and severe voice command his opponent to die ! 
Straightway the latter would drop dead, or yielding in 
craven fear to a superior volition, forsake the imple- 
ments of his art, and with an awful terror at his heart, 
creep to his lodge, refuse all nourishment, and pres- 
ently perish. 

Still more terrible was the tyranny they exerted on 
the superstitious minds of the masses. Let an Indian 
once be possessed of the idea that he is bewitched, and 
he will probably reject all food, and sink under the 
phantoms of his own fancy. 

How deep the superstitious veneration of these men 
has struck its roots in the soul of the Indian, it is 
difficult for civilized minds to conceive. Their power 
is currently supposed to be without any bounds, " ex- 
tending to the raising of the dead and the control of 
all laws of nature." 1 The grave offers no escape from 
their omnipotent arms. The Sacs and Foxes, Algonkin 
tribes, think that the soul cannot leave the corpse until 
set free by the medicine men at their great annual 
feast ; 2 and the Puelches of Buenos Ayres guard a pro- 

1 Schoolcraft, Indian Tribes, v. p. 423. 

2 J. M. Stanley, in the Smithsonian Miscellaneous Contributions, ii. 
p. 38. 



DIVINATION. 



319 



found silence as they pass by the tomb of some re- 
doubted necromancer, lest they should disturb his re- 
pose, and suffer from his malignant skill. 1 

While thus investigating their real and supposed 
power over the physical and mental world, their strictly 
priestly functions, as performers of the rites of religion, 
have not been touched upon. Among the ruder tribes 
these, indeed, were of the most rudimentary character. 
Sacrifices, chiefly in the form of feasts, where every one 
crammed to his utmost, dances, often winding up with 
wild scenes of licentiousness, the repetition of long and 
monotonous chants, the making of the new fire, these 
are the ceremonies that satisfy the religious wants of 
savages. 

The priest finds a further sphere for his activity in 
manufacturing and consecrating amulets to keep off 
ill luck, 2 in interpreting dreams, and especially in lift- 
ing the veil of the future. In Peru, for example, they 
were divided into classes, who made the various means 
of divination specialties. Some caused the idols to 
speak, others derived their foreknowledge from words 
spoken by the dead, others predicted by leaves of to- 
bacco or the grains and juice of coca, while to still 
other classes, the shapes of grains of maize taken at 
random, the appearance of animal excrement, the 
forms assumed by the smoke rising from burning 
victims, the entrails and viscera of animals, the course 
taken by a certain species of spider, the visions seen in 

1 D'Orbigny, JJ Homme Americain, ii. p. 81. 

2 The amulet is a sort of personal fetich , and has been so called 
(Dorsey, Siouan Cults, p. 515). Their classes and origin are dis- 
cussed by Frank H. Cushing, Zuni Fetiches, p. 44, sq. ; J. G. 
Bourke, Medicine Men of the Apaches, p. 587; John Murdoch, The 
Point Barrow Eskimo, p. 434, and others. 



320 



THE NATIVE PRIESTHOOD. 



drunkenness, the nights of birds, and the direction in 
which fruits would fall, all offered so many separate 
fields of prognostication, the professors of which were 
distinguished by different ranks and titles. 1 

As the intellectual force of the nation was chiefly 
centred in this class, they became the acknowledged 
depositaries of its sacred legends, the instructors in the 
art of preserving thought ; and from their duty to regu- 
late festivals, sprang the observation of the motions of 
the heavenly bodies, the adjustment of the calendars, 
and the pseudo-science of judicial astrology. The latter 
was carried to as subtle a pitch of refinement in Mexico 
as in the old world ; and large portions of the ancient 
writers are taken up with explaining the method 
adopted by the native astrologers to cast the horoscope, 
and reckon the nativity of the newly-born infant. 2 

How was this superior power obtained ? What were 
the terms of admission to this privileged class ? In the 
ruder communities the power was strictly personal. It 
was revealed to its possessor by the character of the 
visions he perceived at the ordeal he passed through on 
arriving at puberty ; and by the northern nations was 
said to be the manifestation of a more potent personal 
spirit than ordinary. It was not a faculty, but an in- 
spiration ; not an inborn strength, but a spiritual gift. 

The curious theory of the Dakotas, as recorded by 
the Rev. Mr. Pond, was that the necromant first wakes 
to consciousness as a winged seed, wafted hither and 
thither by the intelligent action of the Four Winds. 
In this form he visits the homes of the different classes 

1 See Balboa, Hist, du Perou, pp. 28-30. 

2 See especially Sahagun, Hist, de la Nueva Espafia, who devotes 
two books of his work to the ancient Mexican astrology and divina- 
tion. 



DREAMING OF THE GODS. 



321 



of divinities, and learns the chants, feasts, and dances, 
which it is proper for the human race to observe, the 
art of omnipresence or clairvoyance, the means of in- 
flicting and healing diseases, and the occult secrets of 
nature, man, and divinity. This is called " dreaming 
of the gods." When this instruction is completed, the 
seed enters one about to become a mother, assumes 
human form, and in due time manifests its powers. 
Four such incarnations await it, each of increasing 
might, and then the spirit returns to its original 
nothingness. 

The same necessity of death and resurrection was 
entertained by the Eskimos. To become of the highest 
order of priests, it was supposed requisite, says Bishop 
Egede, that one of the lower order should be drowned 
and eaten by sea monsters. Then, when his bones, one 
after another, were all washed ashore, his spirit, which 
meanwhile had been learning the secrets of the invis- 
ible world, would return to them, and, clothed in flesh, 
he would go back to his tribe. 

At other times a vague and indescribable longing 
seizes a young person, a morbid appetite possesses 
them, or they fall a prey to an inappeasable and aim- 
less restlessness, or a causeless melancholy. These 
signs the old priests recognize as the expression of a 
personal spirit of the higher order. They take charge 
of the youth, and educate him to the mysteries of 
their craft. For months or years he is condemned to 
entire seclusion, receiving no visits but from the brethren 
of his order. At length he is initiated with ceremonies 
of more or less pomp into the brotherhood, and from 
that time assumes that gravity of demeanor, sententious 
style of expression, and general air of mystery and im- 
portance, everywhere deemed so eminently becoming 

21 



322 



THE NATIVE PRIESTHOOD. 



in a doctor and a priest. A peculiarity of the Moxos 
was, that they thought none designated for the office 
but such as had escaped from the claws of the South 
American tiger, which, indeed, it is said they worshipped 
as a god. 1 

Occasionally, in very uncultivated tribes, some family 
or totem claimed a monopoly of the priesthood. Thus, 
among the Nez Perces of Oregon, it was transmitted in 
one family from father to son and daughter, but always 
with the proviso that the child at the proper age re- 
ported dreams of a satisfactory character. 2 Perhaps 
alone of the Algonkin tribes the Shawnees confined it 
to one totem, but it is remarkable that the greatest of 
their prophets, Elskataway, brother of Tecumseh, was 
not a member of this clan. 

From the most remote times, the Cherokees have 
had one family set apart for the priestly office. This 
was when first known to the whites that of the Nico- 
tani, but its members, puffed up with pride, abused 
their birthright so shamefully, and prostituted it so 
flagrantly to their own advantage, that with savage 
justice they were massacred to the last man. Another 
was appointed in their place who to this day officiates 
in all religious rites. They have, however, the super- 
stition, possibly borrowed from Europeans, that the 
seventh son is a natural born prophet, with the gift of 
healing by touch. 3 

Adair states that their former neighbors, the Choc- 
taws, permitted the office of high priest, or Great Be- 
loved Man, to remain in one family, passing from 

1 D'Orbigny, I? Homme Amtricain, ii. p. 235. 

2 Schoolcraft, Lid. Tribes, v. p. 652. 

3 Dr. MacGowan, in the Amer. Hist. Mag., x. p. 139 ; Whipple, 
Hep. on the Ind. Tribes, p. 35. 



COLLEGE OF PEIESTS. 



323 



father to eldest son, and the very influential piaches of 
the Carib tribes very generally transmitted their rank 
and position to their children. 

In ancient Anahuac the prelacy was as systematic 
and its rules as well defined, as in the Church of Rome. 
Except those in the service of Huitzilopochtli, and 
perhaps a few other gods, none obtained the priestly 
office by right of descent, but were dedicated to it from 
early childhood. Their education was completed at 
the Calmecac, a sort of ecclesiastical college, where in- 
struction was given in all the wisdom of the ancients, 
and the esoteric lore of their craft. The art of 'mixing 
colors and tracing designs, the ideographic writing and 
phonetic hieroglyphs, the songs and prayers used in 
public worship, the national traditions and the principles 
of astrology, the hidden meaning of^symbols and the 
use of musical instruments, all formed parts of the 
really extensive course of instruction they there re- 
ceived. 

When they manifested a satisfactory acquaintance 
with this curriculum, they were appointed by their 
superiors to such positions as their natural talents and 
the use they had made of them qualified them for, 
some to instruct children, others to the service of the 
temples, and others again to take charge of what we 
may call country parishes. Implicit subordination of 
all to the high priest of Huitzilopochtli, hereditary 
pontifex maximus, chastity, or at least temperate in- 
dulgence in pleasure, gravity of carriage, and strict 
attention to duty, were laws laid upon all. 

The state religion of Peru was conducted under the 
supervision of a high priest of the Inca family, and its 
ministers, as in Mexico, could be of either sex, and hold 
office either by inheritance, education, or election. For 



324 



TEE NATIVE PRIESTHOOD. 



political reasons, the most important posts were usually 
enjoyed by relatives of the ruler, but this was usage, 
not law. It is stated by Garcilasso de la Vega 1 that 
they served in the temples by turns, each being on 
duty the fourth of a lunar month at a time. Were this 
substantiated it would offer the only example of the 
regulation of public life by a week of seven days to be 
found in the New World. 

In the religions of the red man, as above intimated, 
sex erected no barriers to the admission of the inspired 
into the arcana of the divine. In nearly all tribes 
there were " medicine women " as well as " medicine 
men." Nor were their activities confined to minister- 
ing to the sick. The most potent angakok of the Innuit 
might be a woman ; and among the Algonkins the 
mysteries of the secret society of the Mediwiwin were 
open to both sexes alike. 2 

Still more prominent was this feature elsewhere. 
The one only member of the Zuni tribe who had the 
key to all the secret sodalities was a woman (Cushing), 
and in the far south, in Chiapas, when the master 
Votan hollowed out of the rock his cave-temple by 
blowing with his breath, and in it stored the potent 
implements of his magical craft, he placed in charge 
of the sacred trust, not a priest but a priestess. In the 
chronicles of Mexican nagualism it is recorded that the 
marvellous power of the adepts in transforming them- 
selves into the brute form of their guardian spirit (tonal) 
was first taught them by a mighty enchantress, who 
herself could assume at will any one of four forms. 3 

1 Comentarios Reales, lib. iii. cap. 22. 

2 W. J. Hoffman, The Midewiwin of the Ojibway, p. 159. Cap- 
tain Bourke says the same of the Apaches, u. s., p. 468. 

3 Brinton, Ndgualim,, pp. 33 sqq. 



WARRIOR WOMEN. 



325 



This explains why in the later revolts of these tribes, 
even down to that in Guatemala in 1885, we find so 
often that the moving spirit, the prompter and leader 
of the rebellion, is some warrior woman, driven by a 
divine energy to seek the independence of her tribe 
from the hated yoke of the whites. Such was Maria 
Candelaria, the heroine of the Tzental insurrection of 
1712, a girl of twenty summers, but fired by an elo- 
quence and a resolution that summoned to her banners 
fifteen thousand fighting men, and for many months 
bade defiance to the arms of Spain. Nor would she 
then have failed, had it not been for cowardice and 
treachery in her own camp. 

In every country there is perceptible a desire in the 
priestly class to surround themselves with mystery, and 
to concentrate and increase their power by forming an 
intimate alliance among themselves. They affected 
singularity in dress and a professional costume. 

Bartram describes the junior priests of the Creeks as 
dressed in white robes and carrying on their head 
or arm " a great owlskin, stuffed very ingeniously, 
as an insignia of wisdom and divination. These 
bachelors are also distinguishable from the other 
people by their taciturnity, grave and solemn coun- 
tenance, dignified step, and singing to themselves 
songs or hymns, in a low sweet voice, as they stroll 
about the towns." 1 The priests of the civilized nations 
adopted various modes of dress to typify the divinity 
which they served, and their appearance was often in 
the highest degree unprepossessing. 

To add to their self-importance they pretended to 
converse in a tongue different from that used in ordi- 
nary life, and the chants containing the prayers and 

1 Travels in the Carolines, p. 504. 



326 



THE NATIVE PRIESTHOOD. 



legends were often in this esoteric dialect. Fragments 
of one or two of these have floated down to us from 
the Aztec priesthood. The travellers Balboa and 
Coreal mention that the temple services of Peru were 
conducted in a language not understood by the 
masses, 1 and the incantations of the priests of Powhatan 
were not in ordinary Algonkin, but some obscure jar- 
gon. 2 

The same peculiarity has been observed among the 
Dakotas and Eskimos, and in these nations, fortu- 
nately, it fell under the notice of competent linguistic 
scholars, who have submitted it to a searching exami- 
nation. The results of their labors prove that in these 
two instances the supposed foreign tongues were nothing 
more than the ordinary dialects of the country modi- 
fied by an affected accentuation, by the introduction of 
a few cabalistic terms, and by the use of descriptive 
circumlocutions and figurative words in place of ordi- 

1 Hist, du Peroit, p. 128 ; Voiages aux Indes Occidentales, ii. 
p. 97. 

2 Beverly, Hist, de la Virginie, p. 266. The dialect lie specifies 
is "celle d'Occaniehes," and on page 252 he says, "On dit que 
la langue universelle des Indiens de ces Quartiers est celle des 
Occaniches, quoiqu'ils ne soient qu'une petite ^Nation, depuis que 
les Anglois connoissent ce Pais ; mais je ne sais pas la difference 
qui'l y a entre cette langue et celle des Algonkins." (French 
trans., Orleans, 1707.) This is undoubtedly the same people that 
Johannes Lederer, a German traveller, visited in 1670, and calls 
Akenalzi. They dwelt on an island, in a branch of the Chowan 
River, the Sapona, or Deep River (Lederer' s Discovery of North 
America, in Harris, Voyages, p. 20). Thirty years later the 
English surveyor, Lawson, found them in the same spot, and 
speaks of them as the Acanechos (see Am. Hist. Mag., i. p. 163). 
Their totem was that of the serpent. Mr. James Mooney iden- 
tifies them with the Occaneechi, a tribe of Siouan affinities. 
Siouan Tribes of the East, p. 29. 



SECRET LANGUAGE. 



827 



nary expressions, a slang, in short, such as rascals and 
pedants invariably coin whenever they associate. 1 

Numerous other examples have been added of recent 
years to these. The secret or sacred language of the 
Guaymis, the Chahtas, the Cherokees, the Zunis, have 
been learned and analyzed by competent scholars. 
They all prove, as we might expect, to be modifications 
of the ordinary speech. Sometimes they contain words 
unknown in the idiom of daily life ; and these we may 
regard as archaisms, or as borrowed from other stocks 
along with the ceremonies or myths to which they have 
reference. 

Frequently they are metaphorical in a high degree, 
the most striking example of which is that of the 
Mexican Nagualists, curious specimens of which were 
collected by Father de la Serna about the middle of the 
seventeenth century, and the sacred formulas of the 
Cherokees which have been published by Mr. James 
Mooney. There is much analogy in the modes of 
thought and the figurative expressions which are pre- 
sented. 2 

All these stratagems were intended to shroud with 
impenetrable secrecy the mysteries of the brotherhood. 
With the same motive, the priests formed societies of 
different grades of illumination., only to be entered by 
those willing to undergo trying ordeals, whose secrets 
were not to be revealed under the severest penalties. 
The Algonkins had three such grades, the wabeno, the 

1 Riggs, Gram, and Diet, of the Dakota, p. ix. ; Kane, Second 
Orinnell Expedition, ii. p. 127. Paul Egede gives a number of 
words and expressions in the dialect of the sorcerers, Nachrichten 
von Gronland, p. 122. 

2 Jacinto de la Serna, Manual de Ministros ; James Mooney, Sa- 
cred Formulas of the Cherokees, Brinton, Nagualism, etc. 



328 



THE NATIVE PRIESTHOOD. 



mide, and the jossakeed, the last being the highest. To 
this no white man was ever admitted. 1 

All tribes appear to have been controlled by these 
secret societies. Alexander von Humboldt mentions 
one, called that of the Botuto or Holy Trumpet, among 
the Indians of the Orinoko, whose members must vow 
celibacy and submit to severe scourgings and fasts. The 
Collahuayas of Peru were a guild of itinerant quacks 
and magicians, who never remained permanently in 
one spot. 

Withal, there was no class of persons who so widely 
and deeply influenced the culture and shaped the des- 
tiny of the Indian tribes as their priests. In attempt- 
ing to gain a true conception of the race's capacities and 
history, there is no one element of their social life 
which demands closer attention than the power of 
these teachers. Hitherto, they have been spoken of 
with a contempt which I hope this chapter shows is 
unjustifiable. However much we may deplore the use 
they made of their skill, we must estimate it fairly, 
and grant it its due weight in measuring the influence 
of the religious sentiment on the history of man. 

1 A full description of these important bodies, as they are to- 
day, is given by Dr. VT.J. Hoffman, in his essay " The Midewiwin 

of the Ojibwa," in. 7th An. Hep. Bur. Ethnology. 



NATIVE RELIGIONS. 



329 



CHAPTER XI. 

THE INFLUENCE OF THE NATIVE RELIGIONS ON THE MORAL 
AND SOCIAL LIFE OF THE RACE. 

Natural religions hitherto considered of Evil rather than of Good. 
— Distinctions to be drawn. — Morality not derived from religion. 
— The positive side of natural religions in incarnations of 
divinity. — Examples. — Prayers as indices of religious progress. 
— Keligion and social advancement. —Conclusion. 

TiRAWING toward the conclusion of my essay, I am 
sensible that the vast field of American mythology 
remains for the most part untouched — that I have but 
proved that it is not an absolute wilderness, pathless 
as the tropical jungles which now conceal the temples 
of the race ; but that, go where we will, certain land- 
marks and guide-posts are visible, revealing uniformity 
of design and purpose, and refuting, by their presence, 
the oft-repeated charge of entire incoherence and aim- 
lessness. 

It remains to examine the subjective power of the 
native religions, their influence on those who held 
them, and the place they deserve in the history of the 
race. What are their merits, if merits they have ? what 
their demerits ? Did they purify the life and enlighten 
the mind, or the contrary ? Are they in short of evil 
or of good ? 

The problem is complex — its solution most difficult. 
An author who some years ago studied profoundly the 
savage races of the globe, expressed the discouraging 



830 



THE INFLUENCE OF RELIGION. 



conviction : " Their religions have not acted as levers 
to raise them to civilization ; they have rather worked, 
and that powerfully, to impede every step in advance, 
in the first place by ascribing everything unintelligible 
in nature to spiritual agency, and then by making the 
fate of man dependent on mysterious and capricious 
forces, not on his own skill and foresight." 1 

It would ill accord with the theory of mythology 
which I have all along maintained if this verdict were 
final. But in fact these false doctrines brought with 
them their own antidotes, at least to some extent, and 
while we give full weight to their evil, let us also 
acknowledge their good. By substituting direct divine 
interference for law, belief for knowledge, a dogma for 
a fact, the highest stimulus to mental endeavor was 
taken away. 

Nature, to the heathen, is no harmonious whole 
swayed by eternal principles, but a chaos of causeless 
effects, the meaningless play of capricious ghosts. He 
investigates not, because he doubts not. All events are 
to "him miracles. Therefore his faith knows no bounds, 
and those who teach that doubt is sinful must contem- 
plate him with admiration. 

The damsels of Nicaragua destined to be thrown into 
the seething craters of volcanoes, went to their fate, 
says Pascual de Andagoya, " happy as if they were 
going to be saved," 2 and doubtless believing so. The 
subjects of a Central American chieftain, remarks 
Oviedo, " look upon it as the crown of favors to be per- 
mitted to die with their cacique, and thus to acquire 
immortality." 3 The terrible power exerted by the priests 

1 Waitz, Anthropologic der Naturvoelker, i. p. 459. 

2 Navarrete, Viages, iii. p. 415. 

3 Relation de Cueba, p. 140. Ed. Ternaux-Compans. 



RELIGIOUS TOLERATION. 



331 



rested, as they themselves often saw, largely on the im- 
plicit acceptance of their dicta. 

In some respects the contrast here offered to en- 
lightened nations is not always in favor of the latter. 
Borrowing the pointed antithesis of the poet, the mind 
is often tempted to exclaim — 

" This is all 
The gain we reap from all the wisdom sown 
Through ages : Nothing douhted those first sons 
Of Time, while we, the schooled of centuries, 
Nothing believe." — Lytton. 

But the complaint is unfounded. Faith is dearly 
bought at the cost of knowledge ; nor in a better sense 
has it yet gone from among us. Far more sublime 
than any known to the barbarian is the faith of the 
astronomer, who spends the nights in marking the 
seemingly wayward motions of the stars, or of the an- 
atomist, who studies with unwearied zeal the minute 
fibres of the organism, each upheld by the unshaken 
conviction that from least to greatest throughout this 
universe, purpose and order everywhere prevail. 

Natural religions rarely offer more than this nega- 
tive opposition to reason. They are tolerant to a de- 
gree. The savage, void of any clear conception of a 
supreme deity, sets up no claim that his is the only 
true church. If he is conquered in battle, he imagines 
that it is owing to the inferiority of his own gods to 
those of his victor, and he rarely therefore requires any 
other reasons to make him a convert. 

Acting on this principle, the Incas, when they over- 
came a strange province, sent its most venerated 
idol for a time to the temple of the Sun at Ouzco, 
thus proving its inferiority to their own divinity, but 



332 



TEE INFLUENCE OF RELIGION. 



took no more violent steps to propagate their creeds. 1 
So in the city of Mexico there was a temple appropri- 
ated to the idols of conquered nations in which they 
were shut up, both to prove their weakness and prevent 
them from doing mischief. 

A nation, like an individual, was not inclined to pa- 
tronize a deity who had manifested his incompetence 
by allowing his charge to be gradually worn away by 
constant disaster. As far as can now be seen, in matters 
intellectual, the religions of ancient Mexico and Peru 
were far more liberal than that introduced by the 
Spanish conquerors, which, claiming the monopoly of 
truth, sought to enforce its claim by inquisitions and 
censorships. 

In this view of the relative powers of deities lay a 
potent corrective to the doctrine that the fate of man 
was dependent on the caprices of the gods. For no 
belief was more universal than that which assigned 
to each individual a guardian spirit. This invisible 
monitor was an ever present help in trouble. He sug- 
gested expedients, gave advice and warning in dreams, 
protected in danger, and stood ready to foil the machi- 
nations of enemies, divine or human. 

With unlimited faith in this protector, attributing to 
him the devices suggested by his own quick wits and 
the fortunate chances of life, the savage escaped the 
oppressive thought that he was the slave of demoniac 
forces, and dared the dangers of the forest and the 
war path without anxiety. 

By far the darkest side of such a religion is that 
which it presents to morality. The religious sense is 
by no means the voice of conscience. The Takahli 

1 La Yega, Commentarios Reales, liv. v. cap. 12. 



MISTAKEN ETHICS. 



333 



Indian when sick makes a full and free confession of 
sins, but a murder, however unnatural and unpro- 
voked, he does not mention, not counting it a crime. 1 
Scenes of licentiousness were approved and sustained 
throughout the continent as acts of worship ; maiden- 
hood was in many parts freely offered up or claimed 
by the priests as a right ; in central America twins 
were slain for religious motives ; human sacrifice was 
common throughout the tropics, and was not unusual 
in higher latitudes; cannibalism was often enjoined; 
and in Peru, Florida, and Central America it was not 
uncommon for parents to slay their own children at the 
behest of a priest. 2 

The philosophical moralist, contemplating such spec- 
tacles, has thought to recognize in them one consoling 
trait. All history, it has been said, shows man living 
under an irritated God, and seeking to appease him by 
sacrifice of blood ; the essence of all religion, it has 
been added, lies in that of which sacrifice is the symbol, 
namely, in the offering up of self, in the rendering up 
of our will to the will of God. 3 

1 Morse, Rep. on the Tnd. Tribes, App. p. 345. 

2 Ximenes, Origen de los Indios de Guatemala, p. 192 ; Acosta, 
Hist, of the New Woiid, lib. v., chap. 18. 

3 Joseph de Maistre, JEclaircissement sur les Sacrifices; Trench, 
Hulsean Lectures, p. 180. The famed Abbe' Lammennais and Pro- 
fessor Sepp, of Munich, with these two writers, may be taken as 
the chief exponents of a school of mythologists, all of whom start 
from the theories first laid down by Count de Maistre in his Soirees 
de St. Petersbourg. To them the strongest proof of Christianity 
lies in the traditions and observances of heathendom. For these 
show the wants of the religious sense, and Christianity, they 
maintain, purifies and satisfies them all. The rites, symbols, and 
legends of every natural religion, they say, are true and not false ; 
all that is required is to assign them their proper places and their 



334 



THE INFLUENCE OF RELIGION. 



But sacrifice, when not a token of gratitude, cannot 
be thus explained. It is not a rendering up, but a sub- 
stitution of our will for God's will. A deity is angered 
by neglect of his dues ; he will revenge, certainly, ter- 
ribly, we know not how or when. But as punishment 
is all he desires, if we punish ourselves he will be satis- 
fied ; and far better is such self-inflicted torture than a 
fearful looking for of judgment to come. Craven fear, 
not without some dim sense of the implacability of 
nature's laws, is at its root. 

Looking only at this side of religion, the ancient 
philosopher averred that the gods existed solely in the 
apprehensions of their votaries, and the moderns have 
asserted that " fear is the father of religion, love her 
late-born daughter that " the first form of religious 
belief is nothing else but a horror of the unknown," 
and that " no natural religion appears to have been 
able to develop from a germ within itself anything 
whatever of real advantage to civilization." 2 

Far be it from me to excuse the enormities thus com- 
mitted under the garb of religion, or to ignore their 
disastrous consequences on human progress. Yet this 
question is a fair one — If the natural religious belief 
has in it no germ of anything better, whence comes the 
manifest and undeniable improvement occasionally 

real meaning. Therefore the strange resemblances in heathen 
myths to what is revealed in the Scriptures, as well as the ethical 
anticipations which have been found in ancient philosophies, all, 
so far from proving that Christianity is a natural product of the 
human mind, in fact, are confirmations of it, unconscious prophe- 
cies, and presentiments of the truth. 

1 Alfred Maury, La Magie et UAstrologie dans VAntiquite et au 
Moyen Age, p. 8. 

2 Waitz, Anthropologic, i. pp. 325, 465. 



THE HERO-GODS. 



335 



witnessed — as, for example, among the Aztecs, the 
Peruvians, and the Mayas ? 

The reply is, by the influence of great men, who cul- 
tivated within themselves a purer faith, lived it in their 
lives, preached it successfully to their fellows, and, at 
their death, still survived in the memory of their na- 
tion, unforgotten models of noble qualities. 1 

Where, in America, is any record of such men ? We 
are pointed, in answer, to Quetzalcoatl, Viracocha, 
Itzamna, and their congeners. But these august figures 
I have shown to be wholly mythical, creations of the 
religious fancy, parts and parcels of the earliest religion 
itself. The entire theory falls to nothing, therefore, 
and we discover a positive side to natural religions — 
one that conceals a germ of endless progress, which 
vindicates their lofty origin, and proves that He "is 
not far from every one of us." 

I have already analyzed these figures under their 
physical aspect. Let it be observed in what antithesis 
they stand to most other mythological creations. Let 
it be remembered that they primarily correspond to 
the stable, the regular, the cosmical phenomena, that 
they are always conceived under human form, not as 
giants, fairies, or strange beasts ; that they were said at 
one time to have been visible leaders of their nations, 
that they did not suffer death, and that, though absent, 
they are ever present, favoring those who remain mind- 
ful of their precepts. 

I touched but incidentally on their moral aspects. 
This was likewise in contrast to the majority of inferior 
deities. The worship of the latter was a tribute ex- 
torted by fear. The Indian deposits tobacco on the 

1 So says Dr. Waitz, ibid. p. 465, and various later Euhemerists. 



336 



THE INFLUENCE OF RELIGION. 



rocks of a rapid, that the spirit of the swift waters may 
not swallow his canoe ; in a storm he throws overboard 
a dog to appease the siren of the angry waves. He 
used to tear the hearts from his captives to gain the 
favor of the god of war. He provides himself with 
talismans to bind hostile deities. He fees the conjurer 
to exorcise the demon of disease. He loves none of 
them, he respects none of them; he only fears their 
wayward tempers. They are to him mysterious, invisi- 
ble, capricious goblins. 

But in his highest divinity, he recognized a Father 
and a Preserver, a benign Intelligence, who provided 
for him the comforts of life — man, like himself, yet a 
god — God of All. "Go and do good," was the part- 
ing injunction of his father to Michabo in Algonkin 
legend j 1 and in their ancient and uncorrupted stories 
such is ever his object. " The worship of Tamu," the 
culture hero of the Guaranis, says the traveller D'Or- 
bigny, " is one of reverence, not of fear." 2 They were 
ideals, summing up in themselves the best traits, the 
most approved virtues of whole nations, and were 
adored in a very different spirit from other divinities. 

None of them has more humane and elevated traits 
than Quetzalcoatl. He was represented of majestic 
stature and dignified demeanor. In his train came 
skilled artificers and men of learning. He was chaste 
and temperate in life, wise in council, generous of 
gifts, conquering rather by arts of peace than of war; 
delighting in music, flowers, and brilliant colors, and 
so averse to human sacrifices that he shut his ears with 
both hands when they were even mentioned. 3 

1 Schoolcraft, Algic Besearches, i. p. 143. 

2 IS Homme Americain, ii. p. 319. 

3 Brasseur, Hist, du Mexique, liv. iii. chaps. 1 and 2. 



THE IDEAL MAN. 



337 



Such was the ideal man and supreme god of a people 
who even a Spanish monk of the sixteenth century felt 
constrained to confess were " a good people, attached to 
virtue, urbane and simple in social intercourse, shun- 
ning lies, skilful in arts, pious toward their gods." 1 Is 
it likely, is it possible, that with such a model as this 
before their minds, they received no benefit from it? 
Was not this a lever, and a mighty one, lifting the race 
toward civilization and a purer faith ? 

Transfer the field of observation to Yucatan, and we 
find in Itzamna, to New Granada and in Nemqueteba, 
to Peru and in Viracocha, or his reflex Tonapa, the 
lineaments of Quetzalcoatl — modified, indeed, by dif- 
ference of blood and temperament, but each combining 
in himself all the qualities most esteemed by their 
several nations. 

They are credited with an ethical elevation in their 
teachings which needs not blush before the loftiest pre- 
cepts of Old World moralists. According to the earliest 
and most trustworthy accounts, the doctrines of Tonapa 
were filled with the loving kindness and the deep sense 
of duty which characterized the purest Christianity. 
u Nothing was wanting in them," says a historian, 
"save the name of God and that of his son, Jesus 
Christ." 2 

In the numerous ancient formulas or huehuctlatolli, 
collected by the first missionaries to Mexico, we per- 
ceive a constant tendency toward inculcating purity of 
life, kindness to companions, and control of the appe- 
tites, which would not be out of place in the most 
civilized communities. 3 

1 Sahagun, Hist, de la Nueva Espafia, lib. vi. cap. 29. 

2 Pachacuti in Tres Rdaciones Peruanas, p. 237. 

3 For these valuable documents see Sahagun, Historia, Lib. vi., 

22 



338 



THE INFLUENCE OF RELIGION. 



The Iroquois sage, Hiawatha, probably an historical 
character, made it the noble aim of his influence and 
instruction to abolish war altogether and establish the 
reign of universal peace and brotherhood among men. 1 ' 

Were one or all of these proved to be historial per- 
sonages, still the fact remains that the primitive reli- 
gious sentiment, investing them with the best attributes 
of humanity, dwelling on them as its models, worship- 
ping them as gods, contained a kernel of truth potent 
to encourage moral excellence. But if they were 
mythical, then this truth was of spontaneous growth, 
self-developed by the growing distinctness of the idea 
of God, a living witness that the religious sense, like 
every other faculty, has within itself a power of endless 
evolution. 

If we inquire the secret of the happier influence of 
this element in natural worship, it is all contained in 
one word — its humanity. " The Ideal of Morality," says 
the contemplative Novalis, " has no more dangerous 
rival than the Ideal of the Greatest Strength, of the 
most vigorous life, the Brute Ideal (das Thier- Ideal). m 
Culture advances in proportion as man recognizes what 
faculties are peculiar to him as man, and devotes him- 
self to their education. 

The moral value of religions can be very precisely 
estimated by the human or the brutal character of their 
gods. The worship of Quetzalcoatl in the city of Mexico 
was subordinate to that of lower conceptions, and con- 
sequently the more sanguinary and immoral were the 

who assures his readers that they are genuine ; Olmos, Cham, de la 
Langue Nahuatl, p. 231 sq. ; Juan de Bautista, Huehuetlatolli, a 
scarce work published in Mexico in 1599. 

1 Hale, The Iroquois Book of Bites, Introduction. 

2 Novalis, Schrifien, i. p. 244 (Berlin, 1837). 



PRAYER. 



339 



rites there practised. The Algonkins, who knew no 
other meaning for Michabo than the Great Hare, had 
lost, by a false etymology, the best part of their 
religion. 

Looking around for other standards wherewith to 
measure the progress of the knowledge of divinity in 
the New World, prayer suggests itself as one of the 
least deceptive. " Prayer," to quote again the words 
of Novalis, 1 " is in religion what thought is in philoso- 
phy. The religious sense prays, as the reason thinks." 
Guizot, carrying the analysis farther, thinks that it 
is prompted by a painful conviction of the inability of 
our will to conform to the dictates of reason. 2 

Originally it was connected with the belief that di- 
vine caprice, not divine law, governs the universe, and 
that material benefits rather than spiritual gifts are to 
be desired. The gradual recognition of its limitations 
and proper objects marks religious advancement. The 
Lord's Prayer contains seven petitions, only one of 
which is for a temporal advantage, and it the least that 
can be asked for. 

What immeasurable interval between it and the 
prayer of the Nootka Indian on preparing for war ! — 

" Great Quahootze, let me live, not be sick, find the 
enemy, not fear him, find him asleep, and kill a great 
many of him." 3 

Or again, between it and a petition of a Huron to a 
local god, heard by Father Brebeuf : — 

"Oki, thou who livest in this spot, I offer thee to- 
bacco. Help us, save us from shipwreck, defend us 

1 Ibid., p. 267. 

2 Hist, de la Civilisation en France, i. pp. 122, 130. 

3 Narrative of J. B. Jewett among the Savages of Nootka Sound, p. 
121. 



340 



THE INFLUENCE OF RELIGION. 



from our enemies, give us a good trade and bring us 
back safe and sound to our villages." 1 

This is a fair specimen of the supplications of the 
lowest religions. Another equally authentic is given 
by Father Allouez. 2 In 1670 he penetrated to an out- 
lying Algonkin village, never before visited by a white 
man. The inhabitants, startled by his pale face and 
long black gown, took him for a divinity. They in- 
vited him to the council lodge, a circle of old men 
gathered around him, and one of them, approaching 
him with a double Tiandful of tobacco, thus addressed 
him, the others grunting approval : — 

" This, indeed, is well, Blackrobe, that thou dost visit 
us. Have mercy upon us. Thou art a Manito. We 
give thee to smoke. 

" The Naudowessies and Iroquois are devouring us. 
Have mercy upon us. 

" We are often sick ; our children die ; we are hun- 
gry. Have mercy upon us. Hear me, 0 Manito, I 
give thee to smoke. 

" Let the earth yield us corn ; the rivers give us fish ; 
sickness not slay us ; nor hunger so torment us. Hear 
us, O Manito, we give thee to smoke." 

In this rude but touching petition, wrung from the 
heart of a miserable people, nothing but their wretch- 
edness is visible. Not the faintest trace of an aspira- 
tion for spiritual enlightenment cheers the eye of 
the philanthropist, not the remotest conception that 
through suffering we are purified can be detected. 

By the side of these examples we may place the 
prayers of Peru and Mexico, forms composed by the 

1 Bel. de la N&uv. France, An. 1636, p. 109. 

2 Ibid., An. 1670, p. 99. 



BEAUTY OF SUFFERING. 



341 



priests, written out, committed to memory, and re- 
peated at certain seasons. They are not less authentic, 
having been collected and translated in the first gen- 
eration after the conquest. One to Viracocha Pacha- 
camac was as follows : 

" 0 Pachacamac, thou who hast existed from the be- 
ginning and shalt exist unto the end, powerful and 
pitiful ; who createdst man by saying, let man be ; who 
defendest us from evil and preservest our life and 
health ; art thou in the sky or in the earth, in the clouds 
or in the depths ? Hear the voice of him who implores 
thee, and grant him his petitions. Give us life ever- 
lasting, preserve us, and accept this our sacrifice." 1 

In the voluminous specimens of Aztec prayers pre- 
served by Sahagun, moral improvement, the " spiritual 
gift,'' is not generally the object desired, as it is not in 
many Christian liturgies. Health, harvests, propitious 
rains, release from pain, preservation from dangers, 
illness, and defeat, these are the almost unvarying 
themes. 

But here and there we catch a glimpse of something 
better, some sense of the divine beauty of suffering, 
some glimmering of the grand truth so nobly expressed 
by the poet : — 

aus des Busens Tiefe stromt Gedeihn 
Der festen Duldung und entschlossner That. 
Nicht Schmerz ist Ungliick, Gliick nicht immer Freude ; 
Wer sein Geschick erfiillt, Dem lacheln beide. 

" Is it possible," says one of them, " that this scourge, 

1 Geronimo de Ore, Symbolo Catholico Indiano, chap. ix. De Ore 
was a native of Peru and held the position of Professor of The- 
ology in Cuzco in the latter half of the sixteenth century. He was 
a man of great erudition, and there need be no hesitation in accept- 
ing this extraordinary prayer as genuine. 



342 



THE INFLUENCE OF RELIGION. 



this affliction, is sent to us not for our correction and 
improvement, but for our destruction and annihila- 
tion? 0 Merciful Lord, let this chastisement with 
which thou hast visited us, thy people, be as those 
which a father or mother inflicts on their children, not 
out of anger, but to the end that they may be free 
from follies and vices." 

Another formula, used when a chief was elected to 
some important position, reads : " 0 Lord, open his 
eyes and give him light, sharpen his ears and give him 
understanding, not that he may use them to his own 
advantage, but for the good of the people whom he 
rules. Lead him to know and to do thy will, let 
him be as a trumpet which sounds thy words. Keep 
him from the commission of injustice and oppres- 
sion." 1 

At first, good and evil are identical with pleasure 
and pain, luck and ill-luck. u The good are good war- 
riors and hunters," said a Pawnee chief, 2 which would 
also be the opinion of a wolf, if he could express it. 
Gradually the eyes of the mind are opened, and it is 
perceived that " whom He loveth, He chastiseth," and 
physical give place to moral ideas of good and evil. 
Finally, as the idea of God rises more distinctly before 
the soul, as " the One by whom, in whom, and through 
whom all things are," evil is seen to be the negation, 
not the opposite of good, and itself " a porch oft open- 
ing on the sun." 

The influence of these religions on art, science, and 

1 Sahagun, Hist, de la Nueva Esparto; lib. vi. caps. 1, 4. Many 
other examples of prayers might be quoted from the works of de la 
Serna, Dr. Washington Matthews, James Mooney, etc. , but those 
in the text will be sufficient to illustrate their usual character. 

2 Morse, Rep. on the Ind. Tribes, App. p. 250. 



RELIGIOUS GAINS. 



343 



social life, must also be weighed in estimating their 
value. 

Nearly all the remains of American plastic art, 
sculpture, and painting, were obviously designed for 
religious or, what is practically the same, divinatory 
purposes. Idols of stone, wood, or baked clay, were 
found in every Indian tribe, without exception, so far 
as I can judge ; and in only a few directions do these 
arts seem to have been applied to secular purposes. 

The most ambitious attempts of architecture, it is • 
plain, were inspired by religious fervor. The great 
pyramid of Cholula, the enormous mounds of the 
Mississippi valley, the elaborate edifices on artificial 
hills in Yucatan, were miniature representations of the 
mountains hallowed by tradition, the " Hill of Heaven," 
the peak on which their ancestors escaped in the flood, 
or that in the terrestrial paradise from which flow the 
rains. Their construction took men away from war 
and the chase, encouraged agriculture, peace, and a 
settled disposition, and fostered the love of property, 
of country, and of the gods. 

The priests were also close observers of nature, and 
were the first to discover its simpler laws. The Aztec 
sages were as devoted star-gazers as the Chaldeans, and 
their civil calendar bears unmistakable marks of native 
growth, and of its original purpose to fix the annual 
festivals. Writing by means of pictures and symbols 
was cultivated chiefly for religious ends, and the word 
hieroglyph is a witness that the phonetic alphabet was 
discovered under the stimulus of the religious senti- 
ment. 

Most of the aboriginal literature was composed and 
taught by the priests, and most of it refers to matters 
connected with their superstitions. As the gifts of 



344 



THE INFLUENCE OF RELIGION 



votaries and the erection of temples enriched the sa- 
cerdotal order individually and collectively, the terrors 
of religion were lent to the secular arm to enforce the 
rights of property. Music, poetic, scenic, and histori- 
cal recitations formed parts of the ceremonies of the 
more civilized nations, and national unity was strength- 
ened by a common shrine. An active barter in amu- 
lets, lucky stones, and charms existed all over the 
continent, to a much greater extent than we might 
think. 

As experience demonstrates that nothing so efficiently 
promotes civilization as the free and peaceful inter- 
course of man with man, I lay particular stress on the 
common custom of making pilgrimages. 

The temple on the island of Cozumel in Yucatan 
was visited every year by such multitudes from all 
parts of the peninsula, that roads, paved with cut 
stones, had been constructed from the neighboring 
shore to the principal cities of the interior. 1 Each vil- 
lage of the Muyscas is said to have had a beaten path to 
Lake Guatavita, so numerous were the devotees who 
journeyed to the shrine there located. 2 

In Peru the temples of Pachacama, Rimac, and other 
famous gods, were repaired to by countless numbers 
from all parts of the realm, and from other provinces 
within a radius of three hundred leagues around. 
Houses of entertainment were established on all the 
principal roads, and near the temples, for their accom- 
modation ; and when they made known the object of 

1 Cogolludo, Hist, de Yucathan, lib. iv. cap 9. Compare Ste- 
phens, Travs. in Yucatan, ii. p. 122, who describes the remains of 
these roads as they now exist. 

2 Kivero and Tschudi, Antiqs. of Peru, p. 162. 



THE CONCLUSION. 



345 



their journey, they were allowed a safe passage even 
through an enemy's territory. 1 

The more carefully we study history, the more im- 
portant in our eyes will become the religious sense. It 
is almost the only faculty peculiar to man. It con- 
cerns him nearer than aught else. It holds the key to 
his origin and destiny. As such it merits in all its de- 
velopments the most earnest attention, an attention we 
shall find well repaid in the clearer conceptions we thus 
obtain of the forces which control the actions and fates 
of individuals and nations. 

1 La Vega, Hist, des Incas, lib. vi. chap. 30 ; Xeres, Bel. de la 
Conq. du Perou, p. 151 ; Let. sur les Superstit. du Perou, p. 98, and 
others. 



THE END. 



INDICES. 



I. — AUTHORS. 



Abbott, C. C, 49. 

Acosta, J., 72, 149, 186, 211, 302, 
333. 

Adam, L., 36,46,101, 184. 

Adair, J., 89, 208, 263. 

Agassiz, A., 133. 

Alcazar, F., 77. 

Alegre, F.X.,222. 

Alger, W. E., 282, 295. 

Allen, G. A., 166. 

Allouez, P., 340. 

Alva, B. de, 204. 

Ameghino, F.,49. 

Andagoya, P., 330. 

Anderson, Mr., 316. 

Andree, E., 177, 235, 245. 

Annals of the Cakchiquels, 238. 

Anthony, A. S., 63, 262. 

Ara, D., 179. 

Arriaga, P., 185. 

Atharva Veda, the, 237. 

Avendafio, P., 249. 

Btegert, P., 272. 
Baer, von. 37. 

Balboa, M. C„ 72, 212, 264, 320, 326. 

Bancroft, H. H.. 58, 65. 

Baraga, F., 63, 261. 

Bartram, J.. 261. 

Bartram, W., 89, 128, 151, 325. 

Basanier, M., 152. 

Bastian, A., 55, 235. 

Bautista, J., 308, 338. 

Berendt, C. H., 222. 

Bergen, F. D.,168. 

Betanzos, J. de, 212. 

Beverly, E. B., 124, 326. 

Blomes, E., 95, 138, 196, 221. 



Boas, F., 54, 55, 161, 180, 239, 277, 

278, 303. 
Boban, E., 177. 
Boggiani, G., 154. 
Borde, de la, H., 126, 136, 138. 
Boscana, G.,67, 127. 
Boturini, B = . 251. 

Bourke, J. G., 131, 278, 305, 319, 
324. 

Bressani, P., 110. 
Bradford, A., 160. 
Brasseur, E. C, 42, 57, 74, 81, 106, 

214, 222, 251 , 336. 
Brebeuf, P., 80, 203, 290. 
Brown, J. M., 115, 311. 
Bruyas, J., 65, 76, 203, 299. 
Burmeister, H., 49. 
Buschmann, J. E., 36, 38, 42, 52, 

74, 106, 128, 156, 215, 224, 273, 

299. 

Buteux, F., 135. 
Byington, C, 165. 
Byrd, W., 209. 

Cabrera, F., 57, 106. 
Campanius, T., 209. 
Carriere, Prof, 15, 62. 
Carver, J., 308, 311. 
Catlin, G., 88, 102, 112, 129, 218. 
266. 

Chamberlain, A. F., 161, 166, 182, 
196. 

Charencey, H. de, 106, 117, 218, 
245. 

Charlevoix, P., 159, 162, 196, 271, 
311. 

Chavero, A., 59. 

Chilan Balam, Books of, 222. 

( 347 ) 



348 



INDICES. 



Clark, J. V. H., 205. 
Clavigero, F. S.. 106, 264. 
Codex Chimalpopoca, 158, 241, 
253. 

Telleriano-Kemensis, 281, 298. 
Vatican us, 237,240, 250. 
Cortesianus, 204. 
Cogolludo, F., 64, 102, 110, 131, 

216, 249, 256, 292, 344. 
Cope, E. D., 162. 
Copway, G., 29, 164. 
Coreal, F., 124, 173, 280, 285, 326. 
Cortes, H., 220. 
Culin, S.. 113. 
Cunow, H., 100. 
Cuoq, M., 20, 63, 65, 121. 
dishing, F.H., 31, 40, 113, 127, 

131, 145, 164, 178, 213, 230, 258, 

319 324. 
Cusic,' D., *79, 130, 139, 205, 264. 

Dawson, G. M., 161. 
Deans, J., 166. 
Denis, F., 219. 
Desjardins, E., 27, 241. 
D'Evreux, Y., 78, 147, 218. 
D'Orbigny, A., 118, 122, 146, 217, 

236, 301, 319. 
Dorsey, J. O., 58, 109, 113, 116, 132, 

188, 197, 319. 
Duniont, M., 28, 149, 240. 
Duponceau, S., 74, 77, 155. 
Dupratz, le P., 280. 
Duran, D., 117. 

Eastman, Mrs., 125, 139, 182, 275. 

Echevarria y Veitia, 252. 

Egede, H., 67, 93, 124, 207, 226, 

260, 289, 321. 327. 
Ehrenreich, P., 55, 59, 154, 218, 

247, 266, 282. 
Eliot, J., 67. 

Emory, W. H., 169, 218, 224. 
Epictetus, 234. 
Erdman, F, 203. 

Fewkes, J. W., 51, 85, 113, 131. 
Fletcher, A. C, 119, 225, 277. 
Forstemann, E., 26, 
Fowke, G., 49. 
French, B. F., 275. 
Frobenius, L. V.,152. 

Gabb,W. M., 149, 173, 276. 



Gallatin, A., 36, 65, 68, 132, 155, 
205. 

Gama, A. L., 90, 154, 157, 162, 188. 
Garcia, G., 69, 107, 154, 163, 230. 
Gatschet, A. S., 65, 67, 76, 95, 232, 

259. 
Gilbar, N., 26. 
Goeken, H., 55. 
Goethe, J. W., 207. 
Gomara, F., 34, 213. 
Granger, F., 269. 
Grasserie, E., 40. 
Gregg, J., 263. 
Grimm, J., 22, 108, 110, 234. 
Grinnell, G. B., 166. 
Guevara, P., 101, 118, 174, 246. 
Guigniaut, M., 99. 
Gumilla, J., 154, 172, 174. 



Haebler, K., 26. 
Haeser, Dr., 306. 
Hale, H., 30, 205, 338. 
Hammond, W. A., 175. 
Harris, 36. 
Harrt, C. F., 194. 
Harshberger, J. W., 35, 51. 
Hartland, E. S., 55. 
Hawkins, B., 89, 95, 110, 138, 283, 
314. 

Hazard, S., 119. 

Heart, I., 263. 

Heckewelder, J., 74, 123. 

Helmont, A., 155. 

Hennepin, P., 131. 

Henry, A., 133, 142, 196. 

Hewitt, J. N. B., 70, 132, 203, 275. 

Hindley, J. I., 196. 

Hodge, F. C, 131. 

Hodgson, A., 302. 

Hoffman, W. J., 196, 200, 298, 324, 

328. 
Holm, G., 277. 
Holguin, D. G., 186, 291. 
Holmes, W. H., 49, 87, 117, 130. 
Hontan, La, 31, 112, 164, 208. 
Hopkins, E. W., 237, 248. 
Humboldt, W., 19, 32, 44, 178. 
Humboldt, A., 27, 32, 87, 101, 111, 

156, 225, 250, 297, 328. 

Ihering, 162. 

Im Thurn, E. F., 233, 266, 307. 
Ixtlilxochitl, 73, 74, 114. 



INDICES. 



349 



Jack, E., 202. 

Jacobs, J., 55. 

Jarvis, S. F., 55, 77. 

Jesuit Relations, 58, 70, 317. 

Jeune, P. C, 81. 

Jewitt, J. E., 339. 

Johnson, Capt., 218. 

Jones, J. A., 136. 

Jones, P., 136. 

Joutel, M., 71. 

Kalewala, the, 228. 
Kane, E. K., 327. 
Kant, I., 60, 219. 
Keating, W.H„ 157, 275. 
Kingsborough, L., 90, 103, 214. 
Klee, M., 251. 
Kohl, J. G., 196. 
Krause, A., 239, 276. 

Laconibe, A., 198, 202. 
Laet, de, J., 194. 
Lafitau, J. F., 65, 117, 119. 
Lafone-Quevedo, S., 59, 211. 
Landa, D., 97, 116, 148, 249. 
Lapham, I., 116. 
Las Casas, B., 96, 114. 
Lawson, J., 326. 
Lederer, J., 36, 101, 200, 326. 
Leland, C. G., 55, 196. 
Leon, M. de, 165. 
Lewis and Clark, 172. 
Lizana, P., 222, 256. 
Long, S. H., 266, 290, 301. 
Longfellow, H. W., 205, 281. 
Loskiel, G. H., 63, 78, 115, 295. 
Lovisato, D., 49, 61; 
Lumholtz, C, 176. 
Lyell, C, 50. 

McCoy, I., 182. 
McGee, W. J., 49. 
MacGowan, Dr., 322. 
McKinney, T. L.. 196. 
Mackenzie, A., 173, 229. 
Macrobius, 234. 
Magelhaes, C, 188. 
Maistre, J. de, 119, 333. 
Maler, T., 177. 
Mallery, G., 23. 278. 
Marcy, Lt., 262. 
Markham, C, 100, 298. 
Martins, C. F. P. von, 51, 53, 75, 
160, 315. 



Martyr, P., 23, 74, 95, 96, 104, 221. 
Matthews, W., 31, 75, 76, 209, 276, 

278, 342. 
Maury, A., 334. 
Maya Chronicles, the, 43. 
Meigs, J. A., 49. 
Melendez, J., 231, 246. 
Mendieta, G, 181. 
Meyen, H., 44, 152, 285. 
Middendorf, E. W., 44 , 59, 63, 111, 

187, 210. 
Milfort, G, 89. 
Molina, A., 67, 
Molina, I., 65, 74, 239, 289. 
Montesinos, F., 185, 212. 
Mooney, J., 41, 151, 197, 273, 326, 

327, 342. 
Moore, C, 40. 
Moorehead, W. K., 225. 
Morgan, L., 70, 188. 
Morice, A. G., 54, 55, 239. 
Morillot, P., 227. 

Morse, J., 31, 101, 236, 294, 333, 
342. 

Morton, S. G, 49, 139. 

Motul, Dice, de, 148. 

Miiller, J. G., 56, 76, 78, 214, 284. 

Muller, Max, 198. 

Murdoch, J., 319. 

Navarrete, M. F., 104, 174, 255, 330. 

Nelson, W., 133. 

Neve, F., 248. 

Newell, W. W., 168. 

Nicolas, J., 202. 

Nikkanoche, O., 147, 294. 

Noldeke, H., 132. 

Novalis, 338, 339. 

Nuttall, T., 88. 

Nuttall, Z., 115. 

Olmos, A„ 338. 
Ore, G. de, 341. 
Orozco y Berra, M., 112. 
Oviedo, F. de, 68, 154, 173, 273. 
280, 285. 

Pachacuti, J. S., 334. 
Padilla, D., 173, 216. 
Palacios, D.G, 90,173. 
Pandosy, C, 67. 
Pane, R., 96. 
Paul, St., 13, 274. 
Payne, Mr., 151. 



350 



INDICES. 



Penafiel, A., 25. 
Perm, W., 162. 
Pennock, J., 293. 
Perrot, N., 173, 196. 
Petitot, E., 55, 58, 59. 
Pictet, M., 227. 
Piedrahita, L. F., 217. 
Pigafetta, A., 261. 
Pond, G. H., 79, 89. 
Powell, J. W., 59, 121, 278. 
Powers, S., 58, 161, 235, 267. 
Pratz, du L., 127. 
Prescott, W. H., 73, 78, 128, 233, 
237. 

Putnam, F. W., 49. 
Pythagoras, 86. 

Quen, P. de, 317. 

Eamirez, J. F., 241. 
Eand,S. T., 196, 202. 
Kau, C, 273. 

Eestrepo, E., 101, 115, 147, 217. 
Eeville, A., 59. 

Kichardson, J., 37, 38, 229, 239. 
Eiggs, S. E., 62, 67, 92, 116, 258, 

274, 327. 
Eink, H., 278, 303. 
Eios, P. de los, 177. 
Eivero and Tschudi, 249, 344. 
Eobson, J., 298. 
Eochefort, C, 217, 258. 
Eodriguez, B. J., 59, 194,246. 
Eoman, B., 121, 263. 
Eogel, P., 76. 
Eothen, E.,36. 
Euiz, A., 317. 

Sagard, G. T., 156. 
Sagas, the, 36. 

Sahasun, B., 93, 103, 105, 106, 114, 

150, 157, 216, 287, 320, 337. 
Sanchez, J., 152. 
Schellhas, Dr., 26, 59. 
Scherzer, C, 58. 

Schoolcraft, H. E., 39, 56, 70, 94, 

160, 200, 255, 268, 318. 
Schwartz, F. L. W., 135, 139, 269, 
Seler, E . 25, 26, 59, 250, 293. 
Sepp, Prof, 86, 98, 252,333. 
Sergi, G., 49. 

Spina, J., 169, 197, 259, 278, 327, 
342. 

Shea, J. G., 65, 70, 80, 151. 



Sibley, Dr., 238. 

Simon, P., 217. 

Smet, P. de, 89, 110, 182, 200. 

Smith, B., 85. 

Smith, E. A., 130. 

Smith, H., 264 

Smith, J., 64. 

Smith, W., 237. 

Smith, W., 119. 

Spencer, H., 314. 

Sprague, J. P., 152. 

Spix. J. B. von, 157. 

Sprengel, K., 157. 

Squier, E. G., 56, 80, 116, 131, 223. 

Staden, H., 101, 245. 

Stanley, J. M., 318. 

Stephens, J. L., 344. 

Stevenson, J., 178, 189. 

Stevenson, M. C, 131. 

Strachey, W., 196, 200. 

Strack, H. L., 176. 

Steinen, C. v. d., 45, 55, 59, 68, 123, 

166, 174, 271. 
Steinthal, H., 19. 

Tanner, J., 142, 163, 169, 201, 301, 
308. 

Tarayre, G, 177, 
Ternaux-Compans, 90, 150, 251. 
Techo, N. de, 218. 
Tezozomoc, H, A,, 293. 
Thevet, A., 246. 
Thomas, C, 26, 55, 91. 
Thomas, G., 153. 
Timberlake, Lt., 127, 137. 
Tonty, S. de, 127. 
Torquemada, J., 25, 136, 142, 189, 

216, 249, 259, 287, 
Trumbull, H. C, 176. 
Trumbull, J. H., 63, 121, 164, 258. 
Tschudi, V. J., 59, 63, 160, 162, 

187, 210, 211, 212, 213. 
Turner, W. W., 36, 38. 
Tylor, E. B., 289. 

Uhle, M., 27. 
Ulloa, A. de, 210. 

Vasconcellos, S., 246. 
Vater, J. S., 236. 

Vega, G. de la, 44, 72, 87, 100, 161, 

186, 285, 301, 324, 332, 345. 
Vega, N. de la, 141. 
Velasco, J. D., 150, 255. 



INDICES. 



351 



Venegas, M., 110. 
Vetancurt, 174. 
Vetromile, E., 207. 
Villagutierre Sotomayor, 115. 
Virchow, E., 41, 49. 
Volney, 155. 
Voluspa, the, 251, 254. 

Waitz, T., 14, 25, 57, 184, 289, 330, 
335 

Wake, C.S., 121. 

Waldeck, de, 171. 

Whipple, A. W., 78, 151, 224, 322. 

Williams, E., 63, 77, 164, 276, 285. 



Wilson, T., 49. 
Winkler, H.,20. 
Winslow, 77. 
Wright, A., 165. 
Wright, F. W., 49. 

Xeres, F. de, 73, 345. 
Ximenes, F., 29, 57, 68, 81, 102, 
208, 229, 243, 260, 292, 333. 

Yarrow, H. C, 297, 299. 

Zatapatha Brahmana, the, 237, 248. 



II. — SUBJECTS. 



Abenakis, the, 119, 198, 207. 
Acagcheraem, tribe, 127. 
Acalan, the province of, 179. 
Achaguas, tribe, 245. 
Age of Man in America, 48 sq. 
Ages of the World, 251. 
Agriculture, native, 35. 

gods of, 152, 157. 
Ahsonnutli, a deity, 178, 189. 
Air, children of the, 106. 

Lord of the, 213. 

rabbit as symbol of, 197. 

kissing the, 69. 
Akakanet, a deity, 78. 
Akbal, the holy or cosmic vase, 
152. 

Akanzas, tribe, 127, 278. 
Alaghom Naom, a deity, 179. 
Aleutian Islanders, 267. 
Algonkins, location, 39. 

language, 63. 

prayers, 340. 

mytbology, 77, 78, 80, 94, 118, 
125, 130, 142, 159, 169, 193 
sq., 235, 239, 244, 255, 274, 
278, 281, 293, 318, 327, 336, 
etc. 

Alligator, a sacred animal, 121. 
Aluberi, an Arawack deity, 75 
Araalivaca, a hero-god, 192. 
Amulets, 136-139, 319, 344. 



Ancestors, worship of, 297 sq. 

mythical, of the race, 96, 101, 
218, 238. 
Androgynous deities, 177 sq. 
Angont, a deity, 159. 
Antediluvian people, 235, 240. 
Apaches, tribe, 37, 224. 

medicine men of, 305, 319. 
Apocateqnil, a deity, 184. 
Apochquiahuayan, an Aztec 

Hades, 293. 
Ararats, the, of America, 238. 
Arawacks, location, 45, 47. 

myths, 75, 165, 265. 
Araucanians, 46, 65, 74, 78, 239, 245. 
Architecture, religious, 343. 
Arickarees, the, 128. 
Aricoute, a deity, 218. 
"Arks" of the Indians, 296. 
Arrows, as thunderbolts, 190, 216. 

in divination, 90. 
Aschochimi, tribe, 235. 
Aspergillum, the, 147. 
Astrology, the science of, 320. 
Ataensic, a deity, 145, 153, 156, 

203 sq. 
Ataguju, a deity, 184. 
Atatarho, a deity, 140. 
Athapascas, location, 37, 47. 

myths, 126, 181, 182, 228, 267, 
289. 



352 



INDICES. 



Atius Tirawa, a deity, 166. 
Atl, a deity, 153. 
Atlatl, as a symbol, 115. 
Atnai, tribe, 267. 
Augurs, college of, 124. 
Aurora, myths of, 158, 209. See 
Dawn. 

borealis, in myths, 282, 286. 
Awouiwilona, a deity, 177, 229. 
Aymaras, location, 43-4, 47. 

myths, 62, 210, 264. 

See Peruvians, Quichuas, 
Incas. 
Aztec writing, 23. 

language, 23, 41, 67, 273. 

customs, 86, 89, 254. 

myths, 74, 93, 99, 105, 153, 157, 
169, 177, 188, 240, 257, 264, 
289, 298, 323. 

prayers, 337, 341. 

See Mexicans, Nahuas. 
Aztlan, the white land, 107, 215. 

Bacabs. deities, 97, 117. 
Bad Spirit, unknown, 77. 
Bakairi, tribe, 45, 68. 
Baptism, aboriginal, 149, 156. 

of fire, 169. 
Bat, the, in symbolism, 293. 
Bathing, ceremonial, 147. 
Beards among Indians, 214. 
Biloxis, tribe, 41. 
Bimini, a fabulous land, 104. 
Bird, as a symbol, 123 sq., 182 sq., 

187, 201, '214, 215, 228 sq., 230, 

239, 242, 249, 315. 
Bird-Serpent, the, 141, 214, 229 
Birth, the house of, 212. 

the second, 148. 
Bisexual deities, 177 sq. 
Bitch -mother, the, 160. 
Bitol, a deity, 74. 
Black, as a symbolic color, 97. 

drink, of Creeks, 315. 
Blackfeet, the, tribe, 115, 262. 
Black Hawk, a chieftain, 310. 
Blood, symbolism of, 163, 176, 201. 
Blue, symbolism of, 63, 189. 
Bochica, a hero-god, 217. 
Boiuca, a fabulous land, 104. 
Bones, the soul in the, 295 sq.,299, 

321. 

Books of Aztecs, 23. 
Botocudos, tribe, 145, 235, 256. 



Botuto, order of the, 328. 
Breath, Master of, 67, 263. 

as soul, 67, 126, 273 sq. 
Bribri, tribe, 149, 173. 
Burial customs, 90, 109, 116, 119, 

169, 272, 278-282, 285. 
Burning the dead, 169. 
Busk, a Creek festival, 89, 115. 
Butterfly, as symbol, 128. 

Caddoes, tribe, 111, 238, 245. 

Cakchiquels, tribe, 96. 

Calendar, the native, 91, 98, 205, 
238, 252, 343. 

Caliban, in Shakespeare's Tem- 
pest, 261. 

Californian Indians, 58, 161, 235, 
272. 

Calmecac, a college of priests, 323. 
Camaxtli, a deity, 190. 
Candelaria, Maria, a heroine, 325. 
Cannibalism, ceremonial, 333. 
Cantico, derivation of, 162. 
Carayas, tribe, 245, 265. 
Cardinal points, adoration of, 84 

sq., 189, 200 sq. 
Caribs, location, 45. 

mythology, 68, 78, 116, 126, 
136, 138, 258, 261, 265, 275, 
284, 296, 323. 
Carriers, tribe, 239. 
Casas grandes, the, 265. 
Catawbas, tribe, 41. 
Catequil, a deity, 185. 
Caugh, a deity, 239. 
Caves, sacred, 95, 100, 238, 265. 

sepulchral, 297. 
Celibate priesthood, 172, 181. 
Centeotl, a deity, 35, 157. 
Ceremonial circuit, 112-114. 
Chac, deities, 98. 
Chaco, Gran, the, 46. 
Chahta-Muskoki dialects, 40. 
Chakekenapok, a deity, 200. 
Chalchihuitlicue, a deity, 145. 
Chantico, a deity, 161. 
Chepewyans. See Athapascas. 
Cherokees, alphabet of, 28. 

location, 38. 

words, 67, 327. 

mythology, 78, 137, 151, 192, 
197, 273, 322. 
Chia, a deity, 156. 
Chibchas. See Muyscas. " / 



INDICES. 



353 



Chichiniecs, tribe, 190. 
Chickasaws, location, 140. 

myths, 256, 262, 263. 
Chicomoztoc, the seven caves, 

228, 264. 
Chilan Balara, priests, 222. 
Childbirth, deities of, 153, 155, 160. 
ceremonies concerning, 90, 
112. 

beliefs about, 286. 
Chimalman, a deity, 172. 
Chimu language, 44. 
Chinooks, tribe, 277. 
Chippewa picture writing, 23, 29. 

mythology, 88, 196, 301. 

See Algonkins. 
Choctaws, location, 40. 

terms, 65, 68. 

myths, 65, 101, 165, 263, 302, 
322, 326. 
Cholula, pyramid of, 239, 265. 
Chotas, tribe, 190. 
Cibola, seven cities of, 265. 
Cihuacoatl, a deity, 142. 
Cihuapipilti, of Aztecs, 287. 
Cipactli, a deity, 236. 
Circumcision, 172. 
Citatli, a deity, 153. 
Circuit, the ceremonial, 112. 
Clairvoyance of native priests, 310 

sq., 321. 
Cloud-Serpent, the, 190, 215. 
Coacooche, his dream, 151. 
Coatlicue, a deity, 140, 172. 
Colhuacan, a sacred hill, 238. 
Collahuayas, tribe, 328. 
Colors, symbolism of, 63, 97, 163, 

180, 189, 203, 207 sq. 
Comanches, tribe, 41. 
Con or Cun, a deity, 187, 210 sq. 
Confession of sins, 149, 333. 
Cosmogony, beliefs of, 226 sq. 

Asian and American com- 
pared, 250. 
Costa Rica, Indians of, 173, 276. 
Couvade, the, 174. 
Coxcox, a mythical hero, 236. 
Coyote, in myths, 161, 235. 
Coyoteros, tribe, 262. 
Cozumel, cross of, 114. 

island of, 344. 
Craniology, American, 41, 49. 
Creation, myths of, 167, 226, 235. 
Creator, idea of a, 74, 75, 231. 



Creeks, location, 40. 
words, 65, 67. 

myths, 76, 89, 95, ±09, 115, 121, 
137, 228, 259, 263, 283, 314, 
325. 

Crees, tribe, 202. 
Crescent, the, as a symbol, 142. 
Cross, svmbol of, 113 sq. 

of Palenque, 141, 222. 
Cueravaperi, a deity, 179. 
Cunas, tribe, 173. 
Cundinaraarca, 114. 
Curupira, a deity, 191, 
Cycles, belief in recurrent, 234, 
252. 
of Aztecs, 254. 

Dakotas, location, 40. 

words, 62, 67, 305, 326. 
mythology, 79, 88, 94, 109, 116, 
125, 139, 174, 188, 197, 258, 
277, 300, 313. 
Dance of the dead, 286. 
Dances, sacred, 89, 113, 162, 225. 
Dawn, symbolism of the, 109, 166, 
186, 190, 198 sq., 212, 214, 
264. 

lodgings of the, 264. 
heroes of the, 220. 
Daybreak, Lord of the, 219. 
Delawares. See Lenni Lenape. 
Delirium, the divine, 315. 
Deluge, myths of the, 218, 234 sq. 
Dene. See Athapascas. 
Devil, unknown to primitive re- 
ligions, 76, 292. 
Dew as holy water, 148. 
Dialects, esoteric, 326. 
Dighton Eock inscription, 23. 
Divination, methods of, 113, 319. 
Dje Manedo, a late name of deity, 
196. 

Dobayba, a deity, 145. 
Dogi, tribe, 36. 
Dogribs, tribe, 173, 267. 
Dogs, in symbol and myth, 159 
sq., 242, 243, 274, 279, 288-290, 
315, 336. 
Dove, as a symbol, 129, 239, 294. 
" Dreaming of the gods," 321. 
Dreams as divine intimations, 156, 

305 312. 
Dualism of divinities, 79, 177. 
ethical unknown, 81, 

23 



354 



INDICES. 



Eagle, as a symbol, 127. 

Earth, myths concerning, 257 sq. 

mother, the, 258. 
Earthquakes, god of, 216. 
East, symbolism of, 109, 154, 199, 

207, 217. 
Eclipse, customs at, 154, 160. 
Education, native, 31. 
Eggs, in symbolism, 228, 249. 
Ehecatl, a deity, 214, 273. 
El Dorado, location of, 105. 
Enigohatgea, a deity, 79. 
Enigorio, a deity, 79. 
Epochs of nature, myths of, 232 

sq., 250 sq. 
Eponymous ancestor, the, 298. 
Esaugetuh Emissee, a deity, 67. 
Eskimos, location, 36. 

customs and myths, 90. 93, 124, 
160, 180, 207, 226, 267, 277, 
282, 286, 289, 302, 319, 321, 
324. 

words, 67. 
Estas, a deity, 239. 
Ethno-botany of America, 51. 
Evil One, the, 78. 

Fear, as origin of religion, 334. 
Feathered Serpent, the, 141. 
Female deities, 179-183. 
Fetiches, personal, 319. 
Fetichism, 57, 319. 
Fire, gods of, 169, 185. 

new, how made, 115, 116, 
168. 

on graves, 281. 

origin of, 239. 

perpetual, 168, 224. 

worship of, 162 sq., 187. 
Fish-god, the, 236, 247. 
Five Nations. See Iroquois. 
Flint-stone, symbolic, 189, 197, 

200, 204, 216. 
Flood-myths. See Deluge. 
Floridian tribes, 40, 105, 151, 175, 

294, 333. 
Foam, as symbol, 145, 213. 
Forty, a sacred number, 111. 
Fountain of Youth, the, 104, 105, 
151. 

Four, as the sacred number, 84 

sqq., 189, 215, 218, 252, 321, etc. 
Frog, symbolism of the, 204. 
Fruitfulness, god of, 141. 



Games, symbolism of, 113. 
Garonhia, a deity, 65. 
Generative principle, worship of, 

99, 155, 177. 
Ghost dances, of Indians, 225. 
Giants, stories of, 241. 
Gizhigooke, a deity, 202. 
Glacial age in America, 49. 
Glooscap, a deity, 202. 
Great Spirit, the, 69. 
Green, symbolism of, 117, 189, 229. 
tree, the, 117. 
corn dance, 89. 
Guachemines, deities, 185 sq. 
Guamansuri, the first man, 184. 
Guaranis, tribe, 62, 101, 184, 317, 

336. 

Guardian Spirit, the, 77, 89, 173. 
Guatavita, Lake, 146, 344. 
Guaycurus, tribe, 154, 173, 176. 
Guaymis, tribe, 231. 246, 326. 
Gucumatz, a deity, 141. 
Gumongo, a deity, 110. 

Haidah, tribe, 239. 

Haitians, 45, 68, 74, 95, 221, 262. 

Hand, the, symbolism of, 214, 216. 

Haokah, a deity, 183, 189. 

Hare Indians, 173. 

the Great, 194 sq., 339. 

Hawaneu, a deity, 70. 

Head, as seat of the soul, 276. 

Heaven of the red man, 284. 
Hill of, 343. 

Heliolatry, 167, 284. 

Hell, unknown in American 
myths, 291. 

Heno, a deity, 188. 

Herbs, use of narcotic, 314. 

Hermaphrodite deities, 178. 

Hevoka, a deity, 110. 

Hiawatha, a hero-god, 205, 338. 

Hidatsa, the tribe, 62, 153, 209. 

Hieroglyphics, Mayan, 26 sq., 343. 

Hills, holy, see Mountains. 

Hiyouyulgee, the mythical ances- 
tors, 95. 

Hobbamock, a deity, 77. 

Holy Water, 147. 

Horn, of the serpent, 138. 
as a weapon, 203. 

Huaca, meaning of, 62. 

Huastecas, 92. 

Huecomitl, the cosmic Vase, 152. 



INDICES. 



355 



Huehueteotl, a deity, 169. 
Huehuetlatolli, Aztec formularies, 
337. 

Huemae, a deity, 214, 216. 
Huitzilopochtli, an Aztec deity, 

140, 323. 
Humanity, the ideal of, 338. 
Hunahpu, a Quiche deity, 178, 300. 
Huracan, the storm-god, 68,98, 99, 

136, 188, 229. 
Hurons, tribe, 38, 64. 

myths, 80, 136, 156, 159, 316. 
prayers of, 339. 
Hushtoli, a deity, 68. 
Hysteria, epidemic, 317. 

Idacanzas, a hero-god, 217. 

Ideographic writing, 22, 32. 

Idols, found everywhere, 343, 

Ikto, a deity, 197. 

llama, a deity, 259. 

Illatici, a deitv, 72, 187. 

Incas, the, of Peru, 43, 44, 72, 86, 

99, 167, 209, 298, 323, 331. 
Incineration of corpses, 169. 
Incorporation in language, 19. 
Indian summer, cause of, 196. 
Innuit, see Eskimos. 
Ioskeha, a deity, 203 sq. 
Ipurinas, tribe, 154. 
Iroquois, location, 38. 

terms, 65, 70, 76. 

mythology, 79, 100, 118, 130, 
202 sq., 231, 264, 274, 338. 
Isla de las Mugeres, the, 179. 
Isolation of the red race, 33. 
Itsikamahidis, a deity, 75. 
Itzcuinan, a deity, 160. 
Itzamna, a hero-god, 217,222, 335. 
Ixmucane, a deity, 260. 
Iztac Mixcoatl, a deity, 190, 215. 
Iztat Ix, a deity, 179. 

Jaguar, a sacred animal, 121. 
Jossakeed, a prophet, 195. 
Journey of the Soul, 289. 
Jugglery, native, 308. 
Juripari, a deity, 77. 
Jus primse noctis, 176, 333. 

Kaboi, a deity, 218. 
Kab-ul, a deity, 216. 
Kamu, a hero-god, 218. 
Kaneakeluh, a deity, 239. 



Kenai, tribe, 264. 
Killistenoes, 311. 
Kittanitowit, deity, 77. 
Klamath, tribe, 259. 
Knisteneaux, tribe, 297. 
Kolusch, tribe, 163, 164, 267. 
Kootenay, tribe, 161, 166. 
Ku, a divine name, 64. 
Kukulcan, a hero-god, 141, 222. 
Kwakiutl, a tribe, 239. 

Lakes, as centres of civilization, 
146. 

Languages, American, 19, 36, 52. 

sacred, of priests, 325 sq. 
Lenni Lenape, tribe, 39, 74, 115, 

133, 162, 169, 221, 269. 
Life, symbol of, 117, 133. 
the Sustainer of, 180. 
Tree of, 117, 217. 
Light, symbolism of, 166, 198 sq., 
214. 

god, the, 166, 198, 206, 210. 
derivation, 198. 
Lightning, symbol of, 126, 134, 

139, 182 sq., 190. 
Lingam symbol, the, 176, 258, 261. 
Lipans, tribe, 37. 
Literature, aboriginal, 25, 343. 
Liver, as seat of the soul, 276. 
Love, gods of, 153, 160, 188. 
Lunar deities, see Moon. 

Magicians, native, 141, 308. 
Maize, cultivation of, 85, 51. * 
gods of, 157. 

myths concerning, 35, 290. 
Mama Alppa, a deity, 257. 
Mama Nono, a deity, 258. 
Mama Cocha, a deity, 145. 
Mama Quilla, a deity, 155. 
Man, origin of, 257 sq. 

word for, 260. 

not developed in America, 48. 
in the moon, 197. 
the first, 237. 
Manco Capac, 212. 
Mandans, tribe, 88, 102, 112, 172, 

218, 240, 266. 
Manibozho, a deity, 80, 194 sq., see 

Michabo. 
Manito, derivation, 63, 131, 132, 
340. 
kitchi, 70, 135. 



356 



INDICES. 



Manu, a deity, 237, 247. 
Marriage rites, 112, 172, 176. 

gods of, 155. 
Master of Breath, 67, 263. 
Matowelia, deity, 165. 
Maues, tribe, 133. 
Mayas, graphic system, 25. 

hieroglyphics, 26, 97. 

location, 43. 

words, 116. 

myths, 64, 96, 102, 147, 216, 
249, 256, 259, 277. 
Mbocobis, tribe, 118, 173, 236, 246. 
Meda-society, 88, 142, 195, 324, 
328. 

Medicine men, 133, 147, 195, 304 
sq. 

Medicine women, 324. 
Medicine stone, the, 128. 
Memory, of natives, 31. 
Mesmerism, among natives, 310, 
313. 

Messiah, hoped for, 208, 223. 

craze, the, 225. 
Messou, a name of Michabo, 197, 
244. 

Mesuk kum megokwa, a deity, 
142. 

Metempsychosis, doctrine of, 294. 
Metztli, the Moon, 155, 158. 
Mexican writing, 25. 

mythology, 78, 90, 117, 281, 

287. See Aztecs, Nahuas, 

Toltecs. 

Michabo, 159, 170, 194 sq„ 232, 

235, 255, 336. 
Micmac hieroglyphs, 28. 
Mictla, 78. 

Mictlan, in Aztec myths, 292, 299. 
Mictlanteuctli, a deity, 292, 293. 
Midewiwin society. See Meda. 
Milky way, path of souls, 284. 
Millennium, notion of a, 303. 
Minnetarees, tribe, 75, 266, 267. 
Missibizi, a deity, 197. 
Mixcoatl, a deity, 35, 68, 190. 
Mixtecas, the tribe, 107, 230. 
Mohaves, tribe, 165. 
Mohawks, tribe, 204, 273. 
Monan, a deity, 245. 
Monkeys, origin of, 244, 246. 
Monotheism, native American, 56, 

69, 71-75. 
Monquis, the tribe, 110, 128. 



Montezuma, his address, 220. 

myths, concerning, 223. 
Moon, symbolism of, 153 sq., 181. 

man in the, 197. 
Moquis, tribe, 131. 
Mother of the Gods, 169, 178, 198. 

of Wisdom, 179. 
Mound-builders, the, 87, 146. 
Mounds, emblematic, 116, 263. 

bone, 296, 302. 

sacrificial, 146. 
Mountains, holy, 165, 262, 315. 

of paradise, 97, 165. 
Mourning customs, 90. 
Moxos, the tribe, 122, 146, 267, 
322. 

Muskokees. See Creeks. 
Mummification, practice of, 298 sq. 
Mundrucus, tribe, 176. 
Muskokis. See Creeks. 
Muskrat, in myths, 231, 239, 244. 
Muyscas, location, 43. 

mythology, 91, 101, 115, 156, 
217, 337, 344. 

Nagualism, doctrine of, 122, 169, 

175, 188, 197, 259, 315, 324, 327. 
Nahuas, 23, 90, 101, 117, 134, 140, 
143, 165, 179, 190, 197, 213 sq., 
265, 277. See Aztecs, Mexicans, 
Toltecs. 
Nahuatl language, 23, 42. 

mythology, 101. 
Names, sacredness of, 86, 277-8. 

bestowing, 150. 
Nanahuatl, deity, 158. 
Nanibojou, 197, 200. 
Narcotics, use of, 314. 
Natchez, tribe, 91, 101, 127, 149, 

240, 262, 280. 
Natose, a deity, 115. 
Navajos, tribe, 37. 

customs, 149, 224, 281. 
myths, 96, 102, 125, 240, 262, 
276. 

Navel string, sacredness of, 103, 
174. 

of the earth, 103,259, 292. 
Nemqueteba, a hero-god, 217, 337. 
Neo, a deity, 70. 
Netelas, tribe, 67. 
Nezahualcoyotl, his address, 220. 
Nezahuatl, 73. 
Nez Perces, tribe, 313, 322. 



INDICES. 



857 



Nicaraguans, 170, 173, 190, 235, [ 

273, 330. 
Night, gods of the, 155, 160, 290. 
Nikilstlas, a deity, 239. 
Nine, a mystic number, 230, 251, 

289 sq. 
Nokomis, a deity, 258. 
Nonconiala, a deity, 231, 246. 
Nootka Indians, the, 339. 
North, symbolism of, 110. 
Nottaways, the, tribe, 38, 64. 
Numbers, sacred, origin of, 84, 86. 

See Three, Four, Seven, Nine, 

Thirteen. 
Nnmock-muckenah, a hero-god, 

192. 

Nunne Chaha, a hill, 263. 
Nubu, a deity, 246. 

Occaniches, tribe, 326. 
Ocean-stream, the primitive, 158, 

227 sq. 
Omahas, the, tribe, 119. 
Oneidas, tribe, 264. 
Onniont, a deity, 136. 
Onondagas, tribe, 205. 
Oonawleh Unggi, a deity, 68. 
Orientation of buildings, 87. 
Osages, tribe, 231. 
Otomi language, 20, 38. 
Ottawas, the, tribe, 110, 173. 
Ottoes, the, tribe, 101. 
Owl, as symbol, 128, 325. 

Pacarina, a Quichua deity, 298. 

Pacari-tampu, 100. 

Pachacamac, a deity, 72, 73, 210 

sq., 341. 
Pachayacachic, a deity, 211. 
Palaeolithic Age in America, 48. 
Palenque, cross of, 141. 
Pamerys, tribe, 246. 
Panes, a deity, 127. 
Panos, tribe, 26 
Parallels in mythology, 53. 
Paradise, the earthly, 103-106. 
Passes, tribe, 258. 
Patol, a deity, 179. 
Patolli, a game, 113. 
Pawnees, tribe, 89, 101, 166, 174, 

245, 342. 
Pemolnick, a Lenape word, 261. 
Pend d'Oreilles, tribe, 272. 
Peruda, a deity, 188. 



Peruvians, records of, 27. 

customs and myths, 78, 86, 90, 
99. 142, 145, 209 sq., 224, 248, 
254, 280, 301, 319, 326, 344. 

See Aymaras, Incas, Qui- 
chuas. 

Phallic worship, 170, 176 sq., 258, 
Picture-writing, 22-24, 91. 
Pile-dwellings, 146. 
Pilgrimages, custom of, 146, 344. 
Pimos, tribe, 218. 
Pleiades, the, 78. 
Pole, sacred, 118. 

of Omahas, 119. 
Polysynthesis, 19. 
Powhatans, 64, 124, 326. 
Prayers, the native, 339. 
Pregnancy, fears of, 173. 
Priests, the native, 304 sq. See 

Medicine Men. 
Printing, native, 24. 
Puberty, customs concerning, 173, 

321. 

Pueblo Indians, 175, 223, 245, 256. 
Puelches, tribe, 318. 
Pumarys, tribe, 245. 

Qabavil, a deity, 107. 
Quahootze, a deity, 339. 
Quetzal bird, the, 128, 141. 
Quetzalcoatl, a hero-god, 114, 124, 

141, 172, 213 sq., 221, 335-338. 
Quiateot, a deity, 154. 
Quiches, records of, 29. 

name, 44. 

myths, 68, 74, 81, 86, 96, 102, 
107, 117, 189, 229, 242, 291. 
Quichuas, location, 43, 47. 
words, 111. 

myths, 72, 78, 185 sq., 210, 259, 

264, 298. 
See Incas, Peruvians. 
Quipus, of Peruvians, 27, 163. 

Eabbit, myths of, 197. 

symbolism of, 253. 
Eacumon, a deity, 138. 
Eain, gods of, 93, 114 sq., 184 sq.> 
249. 

Eain-making, 115. 

Eattlesnake, as symbol, 130 sq., 

142, 201, 214. 

Eaven, in myths, 166, 229, 230, 
239, 244, 249. 



358 



INDICES. 



Eebus writing, 24. 
Eeciprocal principle, in myths, 
171. 

Eed, symbolic color, 97, 98, 163, 
189. 

Eeproductive principle, worship 

of, 99, 177, 261. 
Eesurrection of the body, 295. 
Eiches, god of, 141, 142. 
Eight and left, in mythology, 112. 
Eimac, a Quichua deity, 344. 
Eivers of Paradise, the, 103, 118. 

the nine, 289, 290. 
Eoot-Diggers, tribe, 41, 226, 269. 
Eutbe, a deity, 231. 

Sacrifices, human, 74, 90, 180, 280 
sq., 330, 333. 
origin of, 333, 334. 
Sacs, the tribe, 101, 132, 156, 310, 
318. 

Sarama, a Vedic deity, 206. 
Sauks, see Sacs. 
Savacon, a deity, 138. 
Scalping, origin of, 276. 
Seasons, the four, 91. 
Sedna, a deity, 180. 
Seminoles, tribe, 152,262, 294. 
Serpent-symbol, the, 129 sq., 201, 
230. 

King, the, 130, 135, 142. 

charming, 140. 

woman, the, 142. 

as phallus, 177. 

hill of, 140. 
Setebos, a Patagonian deity, 261. 
Seven, a sacred number, 83, 151, 
237, 252, 253, 265, 314, 322, 324. 
Sexual dualism in myths, 171 sq. 
Shadow, the, as soul, 273. 

as god of the dead, 291. 
Shamans, see Medicine-men, 

Shawnees, the, 101, 132, 136, 169, 
322. 

Shell -heaps, 50. 

Shoshonees, tribe location, 41. 

myths, 161. 
Shuswap, tribe, 161. 
Sillam Innua, an Eskimo deity, 
67, 93. 

Sin, original, sense of, 150. 
Siouan, see Dakotas. 
Skralingar, the, 36. 



Sky as a god, 65, 164. 

Smoking, ceremonial, 88. 

Snake, see Serpent. 

Snake Indians, see Shoshonees. 

Snake plant, the, 314. 

Sodomy as a rite, 175. 

Solar myths, analyzed, 163 sq. 

Soul, beliefs in, 124, 271 sq., 318. 

Soul as breath, 66. 

" Soul of the World," 74. 

Soul, path of the, 284. 

journey of the, 289. 
Soul in the bones, 299. 
South, symbolism of the, 111. 
Star, the morning, 214. 
Stars, as departed souls, 285. 

knowledge of the, 343. 
Stones, sacred and symbolic, 189, 

190, 264, 294, 344. 
Sua, a hero-god, 217. 
Sun, in myths, 71, 163 sq., 181. 

as female, 181. 
" Suns " or Ages, of Aztecs, 250, 

251. 

Supay, a Peruvian deity, 78, 291. 
Surites, a hero-god, 222. 
Susquehannocks, the, tribe, 38. 
Swedenborg, his singular powers, 
312. 

Syphilis, in myths, 158. 
Tacci, tribe, 36. 

Takahlis, tribe, 231, 236, 262, 294, 

296, 332. 
Tamandare, a hero-god, 246. 
Tamu, a hero-god, 217, 298, 336. 
Tarahumaras, tribe, 176. 
Taras, a deity, 190. 
Tarascas, tribe, 179, 190, 222. 
Taru, a deity, 145. 
Tarenyawagon, a deity, 205. 
Tawiscara, a deity, 203. 
Tecolotl, a deity, 128. 
Tecziztecatl, a deity, 155. 
Telepathy, among the natives, 

310. 

Teo-Chichimecs, tribe, 190. 
Tezcatlipoca, a deity, 67, 215. 
Theg-theg, a holy hill, 239. 
Thirteen, a sacred number, 188, 

255. 

Thlinkit, a tribe, 239, 276. 
Three, as a sacred number, 84, 188, 
239, 249. 



INDICES. 



359 



Throwing-stick, as a symbol, 115. 
Thunder, symbolism of, 68, 136, 
182, 187, 210, 219. 
storm, in mythology, 181 sq. 
stones, 184, 185. 
mountain of, 239. 
Thunder-bird, the, 119, 139, 182, 
239 

vase, 72, 187, 210. 
Time, symbolical, 133. 
Timondonar, a deity, 218. 
Timucuas, tribe, 40. 
Tinne, see Athapascas. 
Tiri, a deity, 118,261. 
Titicaca, Lake, 44, 146, 264. 
Titlacahuan, a deity, 241. 
Tlaloc, a sacred hill, 238, 265. 
Tlalocs, deities, 93, 105, 136, 188, 

189, 215. 
Tlalocan, 105, 111, 287, 293. 
Tlalocavitl, 109. 
Tlapallan, 105, 106.. 108, 214. 
Tlalxiceo, in Aztec myth, 292. 
Tloque Nabuaque, a deity, 74. 
Tochtli, the rabbit, in myths, 197. 
Tohil,a deity, 189,214. 
Tollan, see Tulan. 
Toltecs, a mythical tribe, 42. 57, 

96, 215. 
Tombs, cruciform, 116. 
Tonacatepec, 100, 106. 
Tonacaquahuitl, sacred tree, 114. 
Tonacatecutli, a deity, 177, 215. 
Tonan, Our Mother, a deity, 259. 
Tonantzin, a deity, 179. 
Tonapa, a hero-god, 211, 337. 
Tonatiuh, a solar deity, 167. 
Tonkaways. tribe, 269. 
Tornarsuk, a deity, 227. 
Tortoise, the great, 204. 
Tota, Our Fatber, 117, 169. 
Totems and totemism, 121, 230, 

270, 298. 
Totonacos, tribe, 180. 
Tree-burial, 119. 
Tree of Life, 118, 217. 
Trees, symbolism of, 114, 117 sq. 
Tribal circle, the, 116. 
Trinity, native American, 84, 187, 

188. 

Tshimshians, tribe, 239. 
Tulan, in Aztec myth, 105, 106, 
214. 

Tupa, a deity, 183, 218. 



Tupis, location, 46. 

mythology, 77, 101, 147, 183. 
218, 245, 298, 300, 315. 
Tuscaroras, the, tribe, 36, 38. 
Tutelary deity, the, 77, 89, 173. 
Tuteloes, tribe, 41. 
Tutul Xiu, deities, 96. 
Tuyra, a deity, 69. 
Twins, myths of, 185, 203, 206, 231. 

sacrifice of, 333. 
Tzeutals, tribe, 96, 179, 325. 

Uchees, tribe, 40, 232. 
Ugalentz, tribe, 163. 
Ule\ a deity, 118. 
Unity of red race, 52. 
Unktahe, deities, 156, 258. 
Uto-Aztecan family, 42. 

Vase, symbolism of, 72, 152, 187, 
210. 
in burials, 117. 
Viracocha, a hero-god, 72, 210 sq., 

264, 335, 241. 
Virgin goddesses, 118. 

mothers, 172. 
Virgins, sacred, 172. 
Votan, a hero-god, 57, 107, 324. 

Wakan, name of the divine among 

the Dakotas, 62, 88. 
Wakinyan, deities, 125. 
Wampum, uses of, 28, 163. 
War physic, the, 138, 140. 

paiDt, 163. 
Warraus, tribe, 265, 266. 
Warrior women, 325. 
Wasi, a hero-god, 192. 
Water, in myths, 144 sq., 159, 

227 sq. 

Waters, god of, 139, 159, 180, 204, 
231. 

Wauhkeon, a deity, 139. 
Weather, governed by the moon, 
153. 

Week of seven days, 252, 324. 
West, symbolism of, 109, 199, 218. 
White, a symbolic color, 97, 165, 

198, 203, 207-209. 
man in ancient America, 215, 

221. 

" White towns " of Cherokees, 
208. 

Wind, as soul and life, 66^69. 



360 



INDICES. 



3 

Wind, spirits of the cardinal 

points, 92-95. 
Wind-cross, the, 114-116. 
Winds, Old Man of the, 115. 

House of the, 93. 

the four, as deities, 92 sq. 
Winnebagoes, tribe, 41, 255. 
Wisakedjak, a deity, 202. 
Wisdom, the Mother of, 179. 
Witchitas, tribe, 262. 
Wolves, in myths, 163, 218, 269. 
Women, as priestesses, 324. 
World, creators of the, 193, 210. 

end of the, 253 sq. 

Sustainer of the, 210. 
Writing, methods of, 22-26, 343. 

Xblanque, a Quiche deity, 300. 
Xelhua, a giant, 265. 
Xibalba, the underworld, 81, 292, 
300. 

Ximohuayan, the Aztec Hades, 
293. 

Xochiquetzal, a deity, 160, 172. 
Xolotl, an Aztec deity, 299. 



Yahgans, tribe, 61. 
Yakamas, tribe, 67. 
Yaotl, a deity, 167. 
Yellow, symbolism of, 97, 189, 
287 

Yetl, a deity, 240. 
Yoalli Ehecatl, a deity, 67. 
Yohualticitl, a deity, 155. 
Yolcuat, a deity, 141, 214. 
Yucatan, natives of, 42, 87. 

mythology, 97, 114, 173, 249. 

See Mayas. 
Yuchi, tribe, 232. 
Yuncas, tribe, 44. 
Yupanqui, Iuca, 72. 
Yurucares, the, tribe, 118, 336,261, 
301. 

Zacs, the, 43. 

Zamna, a culture-hero, 110 
Zapotecs, tribe, 91. 
Zinzendorf, anecdote about, 132. 
Zume, a hero-god, 218. 
Zufiis, the, tribe, 127, 145, 177. 229, 
238, 258, 319, 324, 326. 



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